


She Had a Heart of Diamond (SHAHOD)

by SugarberryDokiDoki



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Crossover, Memories, Other, Recovered Memories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-04-22 21:57:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 25,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14317998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugarberryDokiDoki/pseuds/SugarberryDokiDoki
Summary: The monsters decide to move away from their surface town, attempting to get as far away from Mt. Ebott as possible. Eventually settling on a small waterfront town in Florida, simply named Beach City. But what they don't know, is that there are more than just humans in the small shore-lined town. And when a certain gem dazzles her way into the heart of a comedian skeleton, she might as well become the sparkling jewel of his life.(Sans X Gem!Reader)





	1. Dedication

**Dedicated to Miranda Lopez. Thank you for being there when I needed you. You never judged me and welcomed me with open arms. When I cried, you cried with me. And for that, I will forever do the same.**

**Also dedicated to a very special person that I hold incredibly dear to my heart. His real name shall be kept for his safety, but I'll just call him Blue.**

**_My love, if you ever happen to read this, you really are my world. I can't even begin to describe the say you make me feel, because even I myself can barely fathom how much I truly love you. You've saved me from the haunting threats that stalk in the shadows of my mind, and you'll never know how much you mean to me until you can see yourself through my eyes._ **

_(I don't care what you say, btw. Your hair floof is glorious._


	2. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just the introduction to the story. You dont actually have to read it. Just the little push I needed to get my writing mode kicked on.

**202X, August eighteenth, Ebott City, 1055 Adams Street, 8:00 AM**

A young brunette child, around eight, nine, or so years old walks up to the house of two of their closest friends. Dunkles, to be exact. They knock on the dark brown mahogany wood door, excitement coarsing their veins. A skeleton, age unknown to this day, wearing a blue jacket similar but not exact in color to the child's sweater answers the knock. "Heya, kiddo. Watcha up to?" The small human moves their fingers quickly, unable to contain their anticipation as they signed the appropriate movements of ASL they had known for so long. _'You know what I'm up to, Dunkle Sans! Have you packed yet?'_ The skeleton (Sans the Skeleton, that is) shakes his head as he replies. "Afraid I haven't, kiddo. Guess I'm filled with," He winks at the child, giving his next words a more comedic effect. **"Procrastination."**

The child appears to laugh, but no sound is produced from their mute and damaged vocal chords; the result of an accident from far too long in the past to be remembered. From inside the house, a booming voice is heard. "BROTHER? IS THAT THE HUMAN?" The basketball shorts wearing monster turns to another skeleton decorated with what appears to white armor and a faded pink apron with a heart on it. "Yeah, bro. Should I let them in?" It was a silly question to ask, for the answer was obvious. "BUT OF COURSE! WE WOULDN'T WANT THEM TO MISS OUT ON THE CELEBRATORY LUNCH PREPARED BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS, NOW WOULD WE?" Sans seized the opportunity to annoy his younger brother, something that was not uncommon amongst the small household.

"But how do I know this human isn't an **impasta**?" "THAT'S EASY! YOU JUST-" The Great Papyrus' red scarf hung on his shoulder blades as realization hit him. "SANS! MUST YOU ALWAYS RUIN PERFECTLY GOOD DAYS WITH YOUR HORRIBLE PUNS?!" The monster ambassador, otherwise known as Frisk, and the older skeleton laughed at the late reaction. A shy voice stuttered from behind Frisk. "H-hey Frisk! W-wait up!" An orange reptilian monster came sprinting as fast as she possibly could on her short legs with a DVD case in her pastel pink painted claws. Just before she reached the doorstep, her foot got caught on seemingly nothing, and she tumbled the rest of the way into the house. As she got to her feet, a rosy blush was painted across her cheeks. She mumbled under her breathe while retrieving the video she had brought from the floor. "I'm s-so sorry, Sans! I didn't m-mean to come in, but I t-tripped and it wasn't my f-fault! I'm so sorry!"

Alphys, as she was called, was known for being quite shy and nervous around other people, yet staying ever so polite in being so introverted. Sans made a motion with his hand, brushing the subject away. "It's alright. Not like you're not allowed inside anyway." As the day bore on, consisting of a marathon of a new anime Alphys had found called Madoka Magica, the smell of burnt spaghetti noodles and overcooked marina sauce filled the house. After Papyrus had waved the smoke out of the kitchen window, he called to the others on the couch. "LUNCH IS READY!" It was a simple phrase, but to the friends in the living room it was more of a unintentional threat that went completely over the chef skeleton's skull. Everyone who had ever eaten pasta cooked by the younger of the skeleton brother's knew that he had more than enough room for improvement. So as the trio of monsters and human took their time getting to the table where three plates of messily prepared spaghetti awaited them, they prepared themselves for the horror to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you forget things that are better off forgotten.
> 
> Sometimes you forget people that aren't worth remembering.
> 
> But you always remember the things that make you happy,
> 
> And sometimes you meet someone you'll never forget.


	3. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kind of like an extended prologue, but the Gems point of view and introducing Missy

**202X, August twentieth, Beach City, The Temple, 1:00 PM**

Steven Universe, that was his name. That was all you remembered. Anything from the time before you regenerated was blank, lost. _"Hi! My name's Steven! Steven Universe!"_ Your name was Mystic Topaz. One of the last of your kind of gem. _"Mystic Topaz? That sounds like something really cool, and, um, mystical!"_ Shortly after meeting Steven, this curly brunette boy in a red shirt and jean shorts, he took you to meet a group of three other gems. A white pearl without an owner, a defective amethyst, and a permafusion of the rebel ruby and sapphire from Blue Diamond's court. An odd combination, to say the least. It goes without saying that these were the infamous Crystal Gems. Or.... at least what was left of them.

You thought about this memory, your first memory, as you waited inside the glass like walls of your gem. A familiar numbing sensation riddled your being as your mirage of a body regenerated from a glowing white outline around your gem. The same boy you had been thinking about, sandals and all, came running up to you. "Missy!" He wrapped his arms around you, easily due to the fact that you were a shorter gem than most. "You took longer this time! I was worried about you!" You hugged the half human back with a comforting embrace. "I'm fine, Steven. The attack was just closer to my gem is all." And it was. While your triangular shaped gem was located on the center of your chest (like where a pendant would be on a necklace), the thorn from a plant monster you and the Gems had been fighting had hit you just on your collarbone, nearly grazing the edge of your gem.

A purple gem in a white shirt and black torn leggings followed Steven to your (Skin tone) form on the couch of the temple house. "Missy! You're back!" You high fived the supposed-to-be-six-foot-warrior. "Yes, I am! It feels good to be back, too! There's not much room to move around in there!" You joked. Next to enter the living room were a tall maroon woman with a box shaped afro and an average height pale woman with elegant features. Steven looked at them with a smile. "Pearl! Garnet! Missy's back!" Pearl nodded with a hand on her chin. "Exactly at 1:01, too. Just like you predicted, Garnet! Punctual, as always, Missy!" You grinned at her. Pearl always was so meticulous and precise with perfection. Garnet adjusted her shades, not that they needed adjusting. "My predictions are never wrong." As you got off the green couch cushions, you saw Amethyst shove an entire cookie cat down her throat out of the corner of your eye. Steven saw it too, and he didn't like it one bit. "Amethyst! Those are mine!" The violet gem just laughed and pointed to you. "Aw, come on, Steven! You've got an endless supply of ice cream cats with Missy here! Can't I just have, like, ten?"  

She had tried this approach many times before ever since you learned to make cookie cats for Steven. It never worked. "No! Even though Missy can make them, I don't want to overwhelm her with the job of making ice cream cookie felines!" You giggled, a noise outside catching your attention. It sounded like someone banging on a wall, or something to that effect. You ventured curiously out of the screen door of the temple house to the balcony. The sound got louder as you traveled down the stairs, the Crystal Gems not far behind.  When you caught sight of a giant three story house on the side of the beach, your (Eye color) eyes widened. "What is this?" Pearl gracefully walked up to your side. "Of course! You wouldn't have known about this since you were regenerating when they first started building. I'll have to fill you in! We-" Steven interrupted her by jumping in front of you with jazz hands, gesturing to the giant house behind him. 

"We're getting new neighbors!" Garnet put her hands on her hips. "They're supposed to be done with the house today. The monsters are going to start moving in tomorrow." You gave her a confused look. "That's a little harsh, don't you think? You should at least try to get to know them before you say stuff like that, Garnet." Once again, Pearl stepped up to the plate of explaining things to you. "No, no, no. You see, Missy, the new neighbors _are_ monsters. A species different and similar to humans and gems!" You cocked your head. "But I thought monsters were only creatures of myth, lore, and fairy tales?"

Amethyst handed you a magazine with a flirty robotic monster on the cover while updating you on the current news. "The monsters were freed from under some mountain a few months ago. You were still in your gem, so we couldn't tell you." A few months? How long were you regenerating? As you read some of the articles in the magazine, your eyebrows wrinkled together. "Monster ambassador Frisk liberates entire civilization at the age of eight?! But they're so young!" Steven nodded his head, his poofy brown hair waving everywhere. "That means that I can do something cool, too! Just because we're younger doesn't mean we can't do big things!"

You smiled. He was right, of course. At that moment, a large pink lion warped into the area and plopped down in front of Steven. "Lion! Where have you been all this time? Missy's back!" The giant wild cat glanced at you, then nodded almost respectively. You never knew why Lion was so formal around you. After all of the time you had spent with the Crystal Gems, which was about a year now, you had concluded that maybe he knew something about your past that you had forgotten when you regenerated that night. You nodded back, and Steven gasped in a huge bubble of air to jump into his unusual pet's fluffy bubblegum pink mane. He came back out with a katana. The grip was a normal black color, but the blade was done in a rainbow of pigments and sharpened to cut through even the strongest material with ease. 

You ogled at the weapon for a moment, and for some reason you felt it familiar to you. "Where did you get that?" Steven handed you the sword, being extra careful as the blade was even more dangerous than razor sharp. "We went back to the battlefield and found it in one of the strawberry bushes near the place where we met you! It's gotta be yours, Missy! Just look at it!" He didn't have to tell you twice. In fact, you couldn't even take your eyes off of it. Garnet said what everyone else was thinking. "Try it out." You waved the katana in the air around you,  it seeming to have almost no weight at all and the grip fit perfectly into your hand like a puzzle piece. After a moment, the weapon started to glow. It turned into a simple shape of light and disappeared into your gem. Everyone just stared for a moment. "Definitely yours." Amethyst commented.

You smiled at Steven and took him by the hands. "Would you like to help me make more cookie cats?" "But we already have some." You winked at the hybrid boy. "Don't you think the neighbors will want a taste of Beach City's finest delicacy when they get here?" His eyes gathered stars in their pupils. He raced across the beach and back to the house, dragging you along as you chortled at his enthusiasm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story has 11000+ reads on Quotev, so I figured I'd post it here. Lol.


	4. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The monsters move in next door.
> 
> The first encounter

> **202X, August twenty-first, Beach City, The Beach, 9:30 AM**

Ever since Steven had given you that katana, you had been having trouble summoning it. Truth be told, you had completely forgot _how_ to summon your weapon. That information went away with all of the other memories you had lost. You had tried consulting the gems, but their advice wasn't very helpful. So now, you were sitting outside on the beach with your favorite human-gem hybrid asking him about the issue. "You've gone through something like this before, right Steven?" He nodded enthusiastically, this being one of the rare times none of the gems could help you. Sadly, Steven always seemed to be your last resort. That being mostly because the gems were much more experienced and knowledgeable.

"Well, there was a time when I didn't know how to summon my weapon in the first place. I never really forgot. That's kind of like the same thing, right?" You thought about it for a moment. "I guess so. How did you learn to summon your shield?" His answer took you by surprise. "At first we thought it was ice cream." You blinked your eyes at him in confusion. "You see, it all started when I went to the big donut one day and found out that they stopped making cookie cats." You listened to his story as you sat on the warm sand in front of the newly built and vacant house behind the cliff. The resident was specifically built for the giant wall of rock to hide the even bigger statue of the temple fusion on the other side. For all you knew, the new neighbors might not've even known there was another family sharing the beach before they arrived.

Speaking of, Steven's story had then been interrupted by the roaring of a car engine. A gleaming red convertible, to be exact. Steven jumped to his feet. "They're here!" You ran to the temple house and retrieved the cookie cats you had made with Steven from the freezer, announcing to Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst that the new neighbors had driven up. At the news, they followed you to where Steven was talking with a _living skeleton_. You slowed down at this realization and your eyes grew wide. Garnet and Pearl weren't joking. They were actual, honest to god monsters. Then again, when did Pearl _ever_ joke about _anything_? The skeleton, wearing a strange outfit of white, blue, and gold, caught sight of you and the other gems and waved with such energy you thought his hand would fly off the joint.

"Hey guys! Come meet Papyrus!" You walked the rest of the way to where the incredibly tall person was. "Hello, Papyrus! I am Pearl! If you ever want to know anything about Beach City or about anything in general, just ask!" Pearl shouted. Amethyst nudged her knee with an elbow. "He's a monster, not French." Pearl lowered her tone and apologized. "Anyway, my name's Amethyst. Master shapeshifter and nickname creator!" The skeleton looked at Garnet, who was around his height. "Hi." He responded with a voice louder than anything you had ever heard. "GREETINGS, HUMANS! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! AND WHO MIGHT YOU BE, (hair color) HAIRED HUMAN?" You offered him a cookie cat, which he took and stared at for a second. "Mystic Topaz. It's a pleasure to meet you." He took a bite of the ice cream sandwich, the frozen treat falling right through him and landing on the sand to melt.

You tried to hide your smile and subtle laughter along with Steven. Amethyst chuckled. "Guess you could say that ice cream just **goes right through you**!" Papyrus' face turned to shock, then disappointment. "I CAN'T ESCAPE IT!" You and Steven burst out in a fit of giggles when a dark indigo Toyota sequoia pulled up beside the red convertible. Monsters started piling out of the vehicle like a clown car. First came two goat monsters from the front seats, one with a feminine shape and the other with a more masculine physique. Out of the back seats came two small humans of around the same age, and another skeleton. This one being significantly shorter, if not yours and Amethyst's height. You gasped at the sight of the humans. They were almost identical, but one of them wore the signature blue and violet striped sweater of the monster ambassador. You had studied that 'MettaPop Monthly' issue a little much after Amethyst had given it to you.

You elbowed Steven to get his attention without dropping the plate of cookie cats in your hand. "That's them! That's Frisk!" Garnet looked over her shades. "Guess I forgot to mention the ambassador and royal family were moving in." Her third eye winked at you as she smiled. "You did that on purpose!" The female goat monster in a dark purple Sunday dress and red glasses walked over to you and the other gems with her bare feet. "Greetings! You all must be the new neighbors! I am Toriel, Queen of Monsters!" Immediately, Pearl got on one knee and knelt before Toriel. You looked to Garnet for help as Steven followed Pearl's example. When you got no reaction out of the fusion, you managed a small curtsy with the plate of cookie cats in your hold. Toriel laughed with an inviting kind of laughter. "Oh dear! Deary me! I should have mentioned! Formalities aren't needed! Goodness!" You blushed slightly, embarrassed at the gesture. The other goat monster with the blonde beard and hair made his way to Toriel in a pink button down short sleeved shirt decorated with a white flower print and jean shorts.

"Is everything alright, Tori?" He put an arm around her as her laughter ceased. His voice was deep, very strong. And yet, fatherly. You spotted their matching gold bands on the ring fingers of their paws, clear evidence of a marriage. "Of course, dear! Everyone, I would like you to meet my husband and children! This is Asgore!" The male goat monster extended his hand. "How do you do?" Pearl almost tumbled over you and Steven reaching for the handshake, grasping the monster king's paw with both hands. She acted giddy, like she were a loyal gem to the Diamond Authority facing her Diamond. Which she definitely was not. Asgore pulled his hand back, a little weirded out by Pearl's, well, weirdness. Toriel smiled, a certain warmth that filled you with happiness. "And this is- Oh, where are they?" She looked back at the other people near the minivan. "Chara! Frisk! Come meet our neighbors!"

The two humans ran to their parents and huddled shyly behind the legs of the older monsters. "These are my children, the twins: Frisk and Chara!" The one you knew to be Frisk started moving their hands in what appeared to be an organized manner. When their identical doppelganger noticed your confused stare as you tried to analyze the movements, they interpreted for you. "Frisk says it's nice to meet you all!" Steven got stars in his eyes. "You know sign language!" Frisk nodded with a smile, and you noticed that their eyes were closed to a squint. "That's so cool!" You mumbled under your breathe, drifting away from the main conversation. _"How can they see like that...?"_ Apparently you hadn't whispered quiet enough, and Pearl hissed back at you.

"Missy!" You blushed again, almost dropping the frozen felines you held as Amethyst chuckled at your mistake. "I-I'm so sorry! I should've just kept that to myself!" Frisk started urgently signing to you, the twin in the green and pastel yellow sweater translating for you. "They say that it's fine! They get that a lot!" You offered them a cookie cat to make up for your comment. The entire royal family took one of the ice cream treats, leaving only one more on the plate. Toriel, after finishing her ice cream, spoke up. "Oh! I just realized that we haven't got _your_ names!" Each of the Crystal Gems introduced themselves. "Well, I'm Pearl!" The shorter, violet gem did a small salute. "Amethyst." Garnet nodded, mysteriously silent as always. "I'm Garnet." The only half gem of the group popped up with the energy he always seemed to store up. It was probably just the sugar. "I'm Steven Universe!"

Frisk looked up at you expectantly. You hadn't seen them staring at first, until everyone else was doing the same. "O-oh! Mystic Topaz! It's a pleasure to meet all of you!" Toriel's pink eyes widened, if even for a moment. You almost didn't catch it, but you did. You cocked your head at the goat lady. "Something wrong?" She gave you a comforting smile. "Nothing! I was just thinking about something!" Papyrus spoke up next after staying silent for your introductions. "THE HUMAN MYSTIC TOPAZ HAS MADE THE NICE CREAM CATS! ISN'T SHE A GOOD COOK?" You finally noticed the mistake he was making when addressing you. "Human?" He looked to you. "BUT OF COURSE!" You glanced at Pearl for help, to which she opened her mouth to explain. Once again, Steven beat her to it. "Missy's not actually a human! None of us are! Well, I'm half human." The monsters looked at you with perplexity. "It'll be easier to explain in the temple, and I'm sure Pearl could explain it better than any of the rest of us can."

Toriel nodded, which made everyone else follow her lead. You could already tell who was in charge of the family. "One moment." She turned around again and called to the shorter skeleton you had yet to meet. "Sans! We're going to the neighbor's house! Are you coming?" At this, he jogged to the rest of the monster group, his cyan jacket waving at his sides. "Why not?" His voice was fairly deep as well, not nearly as low pitched as Asgore's, though. As you walked back to the temple, you once again got lost in your thoughts of summoning your weapon. Walking across the sand, your eyes caught the piece of a cookie cat Papyrus had tried to eat earlier. It had already melted by now, of course, but the peculiar aspect of it was that it melted into the shape of a heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Random Author's Note: I suppose I should've mentioned when I first published this that the Monsters don't see the Gem's skin coloring as odd. They haven't had many human experiences, so they just assume that it's normal. I will write in that they notice later that it's not, but as for the chapters I have now they just don't notice it. K bye.


	5. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a filler chapter. Nothing special.

> **202X, August twenty-first, Beach City, The Temple, 11:00 AM**

Pearl, ever the professor, was more than keen on explaining the concept of gems to the monsters. Oh, but she didn't stop there. Oh no. After the lesson on gems being "Extraterrestrial life forms made almost completely of light that allows them to shapeshift, regenerate, and travel by warp", she decided to proceed to tell them everything she knew about the Homeworld-Rebellion War. Which, needless to say, was quite a lot. Alphys, an orange reptilian monster in a lab coat that had arrived just shortly after the last cookie cat had been devoured seemed almost as interested in the topic as her girlfriend, a fish like monster warrior named Undyne, was interested in the stash of giant gem weapons Amethyst had in her room. Now Papyrus, he didn't know what to pay attention to. He seemed stuck between the oversized battle axes and stories of the Rebellion's great victory.

There was another monster that was too busy at the time to make it to the new house that day. His name was Mettaton, the robot you had seen on the cover of the magazine Amethyst let you read. Apparently, he had some kind of pop star idol business to attend to back in Ebott City where the monsters used to live. You had gotten bored of the conversations fairly quickly, having heard the stories too many times to count. You got up from where you were sitting on the floorboards and patiently waited for Pearl to notice you standing in front of her and Alphys on the couch. "Yes, Missy?" "Can I use one of your holopearls?" She thought for a moment. "I suppose. Don't let the kids near, though." You nodded. Pearl summoned the training bot and you lead it to the top of the cliff near the lighthouse as the monsters just looked on in awe. When you were finally alone at the top of the hill, you tried to summon your weapon again. The hologram declared in an emotionless voice without warning, "Training start! Level: Beginner!" It jabbed it's sword at you, you not having a choice but to dodge. "Thrust!" This went on for a while, continuous failed attempts of summoning your katana and dodging.

Out of the corner of your eye, you caught a glimpse of a red shirt with a yellow star running towards you. "Hey Missy!" The holopearl switched targets to the curly brunette boy, and it lunged at him faster than he could see it coming. You weren't even thinking when your multicolored sword was suddenly in your hands and being thrust into the training bot's chest before it could get to the gem hybrid. You breathed a sigh of relief, looking the young boy in the eye. "Steven! What were you thinking?! You could've gotten hurt!" You saw the expression on his face, and took him into your arms. You already knew about his past experience with holopearl. _"You got your weapon."_ You stared at the rainbow titanium katana in your hand and chuckled. "Guess I did, huh?" You punched him in the arm just enough to hurt. "That's not the point, Steven!" He chuckled, and the stout skeleton from earlier climbed up the hill, breathless. "Oh yeah! Missy, this is Sans! He's Papyrus' older brother!" You stared at the skeletal being and compared the height distance. "Older...?"

He was bent over with his hands on his knees trying to catch his breathe. He held up a finger before sinking to the ground in exhaustion. "How can a skeleton be so tired without lungs, a heart, or muscles?" When he finally got up, he shot back a comeback. "How can a rock be a living thing without any sort of life in it?" You shrugged your shoulders. "I see your point. Sans, right?" He stood up and extended a hand to you. "Yep. I hear that you're name is Missy?" You raised an eyebrow at  this stranger using your nickname and glanced at the whoopie cushion in his hand, avoiding it by simply not shaking it. "Mystic Topaz, actually." He put his hand back in his jacket pocket, giving you a confused glance. "Do I know you already? You seem kind of familiar." You shook your head. "Probably not. Must be been someone that looked like me."

You got distracted by the voice of who you now knew to be Chara from the bottom of the cliff. "Hey Steven! Your friend's here!" Steven got excited, already knowing who it was. "Connie!" He ran to the edge of the cliff and jumped off, Sans running after him. "Woah woah woah wait!" When he saw that Steven could easily float safely to the ground, he exhaled and gave you a concerned look. "Can all gems do that?" You shrugged with a smirk, letting your katana disappear into light again. "Wanna find out?" You walked as far as you could from the edge of the cliff and sprinted back, grabbing Sans' hand as you passed him and jumping after Steven. You let your fall go at a normal, dangerously fast pace, and Sans' reaction was **priceless**. He looked like he honestly thought he was going to die! You laughed as you slowed your descent and landed gracefully onto the beach at the last second. He, on the other hand, after being released of your hold on his metacarpals, fell straight to the ground, both dizzy and relieved. 

You looked over at where Steven had ran off to. He had joined Connie, Frisk, and Chara around the Kitchen Calamity board game that Steven loved.  You abandoned Sans, whowas still letting the adrenaline rush fade from your little prank, and knelt to see what the kids were talking about. "Hey Connie." The human girl looked up at you, having been paying attention to the 'DT Twins' as they called themselves. "Oh! Hello Mystic Topaz!" Connie hadn't been around much since you had joined the Crystal Gems, but that was for the simple reason that she was shy. If you were forced to spend time together, trapped in a giant bubble underwater perhaps, you were sure you would've been friends. As for Chara and Frisk, you had barely met them. "How's Doctor Maheshwaran?" Because of this, the situation grew awkward pretty quickly. "She's fine." Chara started interpreting for Frisk. "Frisk wants to know who Doctor May-Hay-Shore-In is?" Clever use of sign language on Frisk's part. Connie turned to them, slightly embarrassed. "She's my mom. She works at the hospital."

Chara, for the first time since you met them this morning, asked an original question instead of translating for their identical twin. "What about your dad?"  Connie perked up. "My dad's a security guard! But he travels a lot for different jobs, so we barely get to see him..." Her sentence trailed off while she was staring at you. It took a moment for you to realize that her eyes were directed slightly lower than your face. You blushed, then looked down at your gem. It was clear in the sunlight, glittering hypnotically. When Connie noticed that you had caught on, she snapped her gaze back to the board game. "S-sorry!" You waved your hands in front of you. "No no! It's fine! I know it's a sight to see..." You looked around at everyone else staring at the sparkling crystal on your chest. You put a hand over it to hide it. "Alright, alright! It's not that cool!"

Sans rejoined the conversation, apparently having been listening in the whole time. "Can I see it?" You turned around at his voice and uncovered your gem. You could tell that in a matter of seconds he had gotten mesmerized by the shining jewel. "Wow. That's one hell of a rock, pal!" Before anything else could be said, Amethyst shouted from the balcony of the temple house. "Missy! Steven! We got a mission!" Relieved to finally be free of your awkward situation, you ran towards the stairs and headed for the warp pad. "Come on, Steven! Whoever gets there first gets to warp us!" Steven jumped and starting racing you to the temple. Connie also popped up, running after the both of you. "Wait! Can I come this time?" The three of you reached the balcony where Amethyst was waiting.

"Oooh. Sorry, Connie. This one is for magical beings only." Out of nowhere, Sans had just shown up behind you. "Does that include monsters made of magic?" You jumped and fell backwards, landing in Amethyst's arms in a trustfall like position. "Calm down, buddy. Don't jump **out of your skin** now." Amethyst chuckled. "Nice one, **bonehead**. One sec. Hey Pearl! Can Sans come on the mission with us?" Pearl's voice sounded from inside as Amethyst helped you to your feet. "Only if he's able and willing to protect himself if it comes to it!" Frisk appeared beside Sans and nodded their head with a guilty look on their face. They signed to the skeleton, and since Chara wasn't there to interpret you had no idea what they were saying. Then again, it was none of your business in the first place.

You went inside and stepped on the warp pad, smirking at Steven in victory. "Ha! I win!" Steven joined you on the crystal plate, followed by Amethyst since Garnet and Pearl were already positioned on the transport module. Sans was a little skeptical at first. " _This_ is how you travel?" You nodded as he shrugged and stood beside you with his hands in his pockets. You placed a single hand gracefully on your gem, barely touching it with your fingertips as it, along with the warp pad, began to glow. Sans looked around frantically, then back at you. You raised your hand from your gem to extend your arm above your head, and a beam of light shot up from the warp, surrounding you and everyone else. Sans' eye sockets were as wide as dinner plates, and his jaw hung agape. You laughed at his reaction. "Pretty cool, huh?" He composed himself and nodded. "What kind of magic is this?" Pearl answered him for you. "It's more gem technology than anything else." And with that, the rest of the warp was silent.


	6. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some insight into Missy's past and the beginning of Sans' and Missy's "predicament". I'm not going to say relationship for a reason that you'll find out in the next few chapters.
> 
> Now things are getting good.

> **202X, August twenty-first, Beach City, The Earth Kindergarten, 12:00 AM**

Upon arrival of your destination, you turned to Garnet. "Why are we back here?" Steven looked around the Kindergarten, just as confused as you. The fusion answered while stepping down from the platform the warp pad was on. "There's a corrupted gem here. Our goal is to find it and bubble it." She looked at Sans before giving her orders. "You stay here. We don't know how serious this case is. We'll split up into pairs to divide and conquer. Pearl, you're with me. Amethyst, stay with Steven. Mystic Topaz, you're on your own. Think you can handle that?" You nodded, and everyone went off in their respective duos. Just as you were about to go your own way, Sans had stopped you. "Hey! Wait!" You turned to him with a questioning glance. "What can I do to help?" You cocked an eyebrow at him. "You can sit still and keep an eye out for the corrupted gem. Didn't you hear Garnet? Stay. Here." You bent your knees and got ready to jump off when he did it again. "There's gotta be _something_ I can do."

You exhaled in annoyance. You were fine with him hanging around and all, but you drew the line when other people interfered with your priorities. "Fine. Stay close to me. Don't wander off. Can you do that?" He chuckled, much like Amethyst probably would've. "Follow the leader. Got it." Unfortunately, now that you had a partner that _couldn't_ super jump, your part of the mission was going to take a lot longer by foot. You had barely walked one mile when the sound of Steven's screaming pierced the air. You quickly grabbed hold of the hood of Sans' hoodie, which wasn't easy due to all of that unnecessary fur mind you, and took off soaring through the air towards the sound. "Hold on!" When you landed on the ground, you carelessly threw Sans to the side and ran to where Amethyst had a black and dark gray ram like creature tangled in her whip as it struggled just inches from Steven as he shook fearfully behind his shield. "Steven! Hang in there!"

Before you could think about it, you summoned your sword from the crystal on your chest. "Amethyst! Keep it restrained!" The purple gem pulled harder on the whip. "What do you think I'm trying to do?!" You swung your katana at the corrupted gem, shearing off some its thick black fur. Garnet and Pearl finally arrived, aiding you in your attempts to contain the gem beast. Amethyst's whip broke, and the corrupted gem lunged at you. You jabbed your weapon into the creature's eye, but then you realized that the eye was also it's gem. Through the corruption, you saw who this gem used to be, and one of the memories you had lost came flooding back to you. _Onyx_. Tears gathered on the brim of your bottom eyelids. She was the one that had always been there for you, no matter what. She was the Pearl to your Rose Quartz.

**You had just shattered her.**

You were frozen with regret, immobilized. The tears spilled out of your (Eye color) orbs as you held the broken pieces in your hands. Someone put a hand on your shoulder, and you flicked your gaze to see Garnet without her shades. All three of her eyes gave you matching sympathetic gazes. "You knew her." You nodded without a word. Steven approached you slowly, wrapping his arms around your traumatized form in a gentle embrace. "Who were they, Missy?" Pearl took his arms off of you. "Let's not prod her, Steven." Sans, still on the ground from where you had tossed him aside, looked dazed. The entire battle had gone by so fast that he had barely had time to take it in. "What just happened?" You couldn't tear your eyes from the shiny black shards in your grasp. "I killed her."

The skeletal monster adopted a shocked expression as he stared at the pieces of what used to be your friend. "I'm sorry." You looked at him, surprised by his reaction. "I mean, I know how that feels. Having to...." He trailed off, not wanting to say it directly. "To do something like that to someone you care about, so you can protect someone else you love. I know the feeling." He put a bony hand over his skull. "It's horrible." You got up and walked over to him, absentmidly trapping him in an embrace. You were silent in doing so, and he flinched at your unexpected action. You let him go and wiped your tears, moving back over to the pile of Onyx's remains and bubbling them in a (Favorite color) protective sphere. You let the bubble disappear, what was left of your long lost friend reappearing back at the temple in your room.

You turned back to Garnet. "Is that the end of our mission?" You asked, your katana retreating back to your gem. She nodded. You made your way back to the warp pad, patiently waiting as everyone just stood still and stared at you sympathetically. "Aren't you guys coming? You have to finish your game, Steven!" The hybrid boy immediately perked up, running to join you on the warp. "Come on, guys! I'm gonna miss Kitchen Calamity with Connie, Frisk, and Chara!" The other gems let out a breath and followed suit, for Steven's sake. Sans got in place next to you, the small space of air between the two of you containing the slightest bit of awkward tension. Steven looked up at you expectantly. "Aren't you gonna warp us?" You shrugged and gave him a semi-believable fake smile. "Why don't you do it this time?"

He spread his arms out and bent his knees, his gem glowing a soft pink under his shirt as the warp pad lit up again. The ray of light shot up, and you appeared back at the temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm updating fast right now because these are already written chapters that I'm moving from Quotev, but once you see chapter nine don't expect fast updates.


	7. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another filler, but I'm still contributing to the mystery of Missy's past. Sans is also starting to question Missy, and it doesn't end here. It actually gets worse.

> **202X, August twenty-first, Beach City, The Temple, 3:00 PM**

Arriving back at the temple, you stayed in the house to watch the new episode of Crying Breakfast Friends that had Steven recorded since Connie had gone back home and the twins had to unpack next door. Sans stared at you while passing Steven's room on his way out of the house. He couldn't understand you. You had been so moody all day. When he first met you, you had come off so protective of Steven. Then you shifted to being annoyed when he was catching his breath after running up that steep ass hill. Shortly afterwards, you appeared more playful as you jumped off said hill with his hand. You got flustered easily at the mention of your gem, you got protective again at that 'Kindergarten' place, you then broke down into tears, and you got all happy again on the way back.

You were just so confusing. In his thoughts, Sans had forgotten to look where he was going and ran into the screen door of the temple house. He pushed open the door and started down the stairs to the beach. He had never met anyone who could recover so quickly from something as extreme as killing their own friend. He knew he couldn't. Hell, he _still_ felt guilty even _thinking_ about the bloodstained marble pillars of the Judgement Hall. Were gems just different in that way? Or had you gone through _that_ much in that Gem War thing Pearl was talking about earlier? He walked into the new house, the smell of Tori's signature pie wafting through the air. Sans peeked into the kitchen to see a butterscotch-cinnamon pie cooling on the counter and a kettle of golden flower tea brewing on the stove. The owners of these foodstuffs were in the kitchen as well, discussing interior design and such for when the UHaul truck got there.

As Sans wandered to the second floor, he could hear Chara talking to Frisk and the sound of an 8-bit arcade game. There, in the upstairs loft, were the twins. Frisk was playing Pac man on their phone, and Chara was watching over their shoulder and cheering them on. "Come on, Frisk! You can do this! Level ten!" They had been playing that game for at least a month now, so it was no surprise that they had gotten so good at it. Sans plopped down in front of the two kids on the carpet floor. When Frisk noticed his presence, they put the phone down and jumped into his arms. Chara stared at their phone as the circular yellow character got eaten by the blue ghost. "No! We got so far!" Frisk's shoulders shook as they silently giggled. They signed to Sans as Chara joined them in the circle of bodies. _'Where'd you go?'_ Sans thought about telling them that he saw you murder one of your loved ones, but decided against it. "I got to see what the Gems do for a living." Chara's scarlet eyes widened in interest. "Really? What do they do?"

"They fight these things they call Corrupted Gems. Evil, deformed versions of other gems, apparently." Chara backed off a little, guiltily trying to shrink into their sweater. "Oh..." Sans grabbed ahold of their soul with his magic and pulled them out of the clothing article. "Come on, kid. There's no reason for you to feel bad. Like you said, it's not your fault." Chara rubbed their arm. "I know, but I always feel like it's still not over. We don't even know how they did it, which means they could take over me again at any time if they wanted..." 'They' being a mysterious third party Chara always referred to as **The Player**. Frisk snapped to get Chara's attention and signed words of reassurance to them. _'It **is** over, Chara. If they really wanted to take control of you again, don't you think they would've done it by now?' _ Chara smiled. "I guess you're right, Frisk. Like always!" They both chuckled, and Sans got up to check on Papyrus, who was busily unpacking his pirate flag and human action figures. Everyone in the house had already claimed their bedrooms, all on the second floor. The loft was an odd triangular shape, with two rooms on one diagonal, another room on the other, and the bathroom on the base side.

Papyrus shared a room with the twins, the extra room next to their's had been reserved for Mettaton, and the room across had been taken by Alphys and Undyne. There were two other rooms downstairs, the two bigger rooms actually. The larger of the two was the guest room, for hospitality purposes, and the next was Tori and Asgore's. Of course, no one had been observant enough to notice a hatch on the ceiling of the second floor with a drawstring attached to it. Sans, being the short monster that he is, had to get his taller brother to pull down the hatch for him. A flight of steep ladder like stairs unfolded from the hatch, and Sans climbed up them to the third and final floor of the house. The entire floor itself was one single room, by far the biggest in the house. It was built in a weird octagonal shape, which Sans didn't really mind. But since the room was the biggest, it would take the most cleaning.

Now that, he did mind. Since the skeleton brother's were the only ones that decided to bring their stuff in Papyrus' convertible instead of a UHaul, they had more time to unpack. Sans had to go all the way back down to the first floor, out to the red vehicle, get his boxes(one by one given the fact that he was trying to keep his magic a secret), and carry them all the way back to his room. By the time all of his boxes were on the third floor, Sans was _exhausted_. He wondered briefly about Garnet, and how she probably could've done the same thing in half the time. Then, his thoughts wandered to you. He thought about how he almost cried earlier at the Kindergarten trying to comfort you. It was true, he could relate to what you were feeling. But he didn't mean to get so emotional about it. Then you had hugged him. The embrace was warm, comforting. Like a cup of Tori's hot cocoa on an especially cold day in Snowdin.

As the memory played in his head, your arms wrapping around him, his face turned blue. He wasn't going to lie to himself, you were fairly attractive. But he knew that that's not what made him blush. It was your empathy. Most people would've comforted him by asking him if he wanted to talk about it. But you, you were different. You let the embrace linger on in silence. You understood. That was something Sans wasn't used to. He just wasn't used to someone understanding what he had been forced to go through. That's what made you stand out from everyone else he knew. But _why_? _Why_ did you understand him? What had _you_ gone through that put that empathetic feel to your moody edge? 

You had the same thoughts floating around your head back at the temple. After Steven's show and a small discussion of the events that had taken place between Waffle and Pear, you retreated back to your room, your gem glowing (Favorite color) as you passed through the door. You had been thinking about the same things as Sans while you stared at the bubbled shards of Onyx in the middle of the lake in your room. Inside your personal area of the temple, you had conjured cherry blossoms and a lake, much like you had seen in a dream when Steven taught you to sleep. You weren't getting any sleep though. You simply didn't need to. You were a gem. Even if you wanted to sleep, you couldn't. Thoughts of the moment you had with Sans kept appearing in your mind. Why did you feel so compelled to comfort him then? There was nothing that had happened to you besides what _just_ occurred that you could relate to him for. At least, not anything you remembered. Were those feelings from before you had regenerated? This lead to the question that gave you a glimpse of hope. **_Did you honestly lose those memories?_**  Were they legitimately lost, or where they just locked in the deepest corners of your minds to be remembered when the time was right?

You hadn't noticed when the smell of a together breakfast filled the temple. At the same exact time, though neither of them knew, Steven and Chara called to their friends. _"Missy!"_ **"Sans!" _"Food is ready if you want it!"_** Both you and Sans decided to abandoned your thoughts for another time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You thought I was going to go straight to the romance? Jokes on you, cause I've got other plans. The Sans x Missy (Sassy? Yes. The ship name is Sassy. I am a genius.) ship is taking a different route.
> 
> hA iM tRyInG tO bE oRiGiNaL. lEtS sEe hOw fAr tHaT gEtS mE.
> 
> ((Wow Ayaka. Way to be immature. But I have an excuse so ha.))


	8. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A peek into a very small chunk of Missy's past. One flashback down, who knows how many more to go. Find out in the next episode of Dragon Ball Z!

> **202X, August twent-sixth, Beach City, The Boardwalk,  5:00 AM**

You walked down the Boardwalk under the cover of darkness, the entirety of Beach City's human population asleep. You weren't allowed to be here due to the fact that the humans would be too shaken up if they saw you. Apparently, they had gone through some serious Homeworld gem attacks before you had come along, and they would freak out of they saw a gem they didn't know. Not even Lapis or Peridot came here often, and they had been on Earth for awhile now. Of course, you never came here during the day. That'd just be asking to get caught. Instead, you wandered the town at night. Garnet was fine with it as long as you were careful, and Amethyst never really payed attention. But you never let Pearl catch you sneaking out of the temple. You'd get an  _earful._ But now, for some reason, she didn't have a problem with it as of late. 

Perhaps it was the fact that the humans were about to come into contact with monsters, and gems were common to them by now. In any case, you liked taking walks down the sandy shore of the beach near the Boardwalk. You liked how, if you looked out at the horizon, the salty waters of the ocean reflected the late night sky and appeared to be the sky itself stretching down to your bare feet as you splashed in the shallows. It looked as if you were stepping in a galaxy, the sparkling lights of the stars shining on your gem and giving it a glowing affect. It was quiet, peaceful, and you smiled.

You looked up at the midnight atmosphere, dark as black velvet. Darker than.....  **Onyx.** You now had some of your memories. At least the memories you shared with her. As you walked along in the shallow water, small waves crashing on your ankles, you replayed one of these memories.

* * *

_You weren't on Earth. No. You were too clearly on another planet, another world. Homeworld. The ground was hollow, everything was gray and dull, and you could see broken rubble as far as the eye could see. "Mystic Topaz! I found one!" You scurried over to where you heard Onyx, spotting another off-color hiding behind a large pile of rocks. Onyx was helping them out of their hiding spot when you came over. The off-color had a black strapless shirt with a transparent pink shawl tied around her neck that covered her shoulders. Her maroon pants had only one leg, the other side stopped at the upper thigh. The leg with the shorter pant side had a boot on the end of it, while the other leg had a black flat at the bottom of the longer pants side. She also had a frizzy afro, but your (eye color) eyes widened when you saw the two gems on their chest and stomach._

_"A fusion!" You jumped over another pile of rocks in front of you. "Oh goodness! Malachite is going to love you! What gems are you?" The fusion stood up next to the both of you and Onyx. "W-well, I'm Rhodonite. She's Ruby," She pointed to the gem on her stomach, then on her chest. "And this is Pink Pearl." Onyx gasped. "Pink Pearl? As in Pink Diamond's Pink Pearl?" Rhodonite blushed and crossed her top arms in embarrassment as she nodded. Her voice became softer, more sophisticated. It seemed Pink Pearl was talking directly to you. "After My Diamond was shattered, I had no where to go. I didn't have a purpose. I had always liked Ruby, but we were always separated. We didn't mean to fuse, but when we did, we were finally...." They balanced again, becoming one being again. "Together."_

_You smiled at them warmly. "That sounds wonderful!" Rhodonite smiled back at you, just as an alarming red beam turned the corner. "Rhodonite! Run in the direction Onyx and I came from! Escape through the tunnel and don't stop until you see Malachite! Go now!" They swiftly made a beeline for the tunnel you mentioned. Their extra arms made for easy maneuvering. You turned to Onyx, her sword already in her hand. You pulled your katana out of your gem, ready for battle. "Onyx! Don't let the beam touch your gem! It'll shatter you!" "Ya' don't gots'ta tell me twice!" Ducking under the red ray as it swept passed you, you pounced on the eye-looking mechanism that flashed it's scarlet light in Onyx's direction. You blocked the beam with your katana, blinding the drone for as long as your weapon covered its line of sight._

_You blocked the machine's vision just before it swept over Onyx, and she took the opportunity to attack it. Her black figure leapt through the air to stab her sword into the pupil of the drone's eye, electric bolts shooting out of it as it shocked out its last volts. You both fell to the ground and looked at your attacker while it crashed to the ground. You looked up at Onyx, your wide smile splitting your (skin tone) cheeks. She stood up and ran towards you, pulling you off the ground in a hug while she laughed. "We beat it!" You intertwined her dark fingers with yours and spun her around in the air with excitement and adrenaline. Your gems began to glow, yours (favorite color) and hers a soft white. Before you could realize what was happening, your bodies of light merged into one and you could read Onyx's thoughts. But they were your own thoughts as well. You heard your voice, but it didn't sound the same. You could feel yourself talking, but it wasn't your words._

_"Mystic Topaz...? Whatch'ust happened?" You'd know that voice anywhere. You spoke up, perplexed. "O-Onyx? Is that you?" You retreated to the dark ends of your mind, seeming to be darker than before. You saw Onyx standing there, on a floor of shadows in the depths of your combined minds. "Did we just?" Your eyes grew as you realized what you had done. "We fused..."_

* * *

You snapped out of your memories, looking around at your surroundings. You had subconsciously wandered far from the temple while you roamed your thoughts, and you had seated yourself in the water. A drop of water fell off your nose, dripping into the ocean, and you wiped the tears you didn't know you had been shedding. You replayed the moment you had shattered her. You had been so ready to kill her to protect Steven and complete your mission, so prepared to murder someone you held so dearly. Was that how Rose Quartz felt when shattering Pink Diamond? It wasn't like the Crystal Gems, previously known as the Rebellion when they were more numerous, hated the Diamonds themselves. They just didn't agree with the way they ruled their dynasty. Was the feeling of preparation followed by realization the same emotions going through Rose Quartz's head when she had killed what measures up to be her queen? It was hard to tell. Rose Quartz was one of the most mysterious gems you had ever heard of.

**Though it wouldn't stay that way for long.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Foreshadowing? Perhaps! Anyway, as you can tell, I added a bit more about Onyx in this chapter! I'm not revealing the fusion just yet, but the fruit of patience is tender and sweet! I gave Onyx a kind of Harley-Quinn voice, so just imagine that, I guess! I also featured the beautiful Rhodonite here! Also, in the point of time during the memory, FLUORITE is still a small fusion, AKA Malachite!


	9. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans no like Missy. 
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Yet.
> 
> A meme from my Spanish class:  
> Snas: nO mE gUsTa

> **202X, August twent-sixth, Beach City, The Boardwalk,  5:00 AM**

Sans had finally finished unpacking his stuff in his room, or at least Frisk and Chara were. The brunette kids kept trying to do favors and chores for the skeleton. This was common by now. It had started back when they had first freed everyone from the Underground. When Sans asked why they were doing it, they only replied with, "It's the least we can do after all we put you through." He knew they were talking about the resets, the genocide timelines. But he had already forgiven them for that. After all, it wasn't their fault. It was that higher being....  **The Player.** Even still, both of the royal children went out of their way to do a lot of unnecessary work for Sans. Heck, he was the one that was treated like royalty! Although, it just didn't feel right. He had asked Tori to tell the twins to stop, but they still did so much for him, and they didn't listen when he asked them to just give it up already. 

But, back to the main story. His entire room had been unpacked, cleaned, and organized in the short matter of time when Sans had gone to talk to Toriel in the kitchen. He climbed the ladder to his room, subtly using his telekinesis to push himself up. It wasn't noticeable, thankfully. The skeletal ex-sentry was pretty tired after today. Not physically, but more mentally. The entire time he spent unpacking his room(at least when he was doing it himself) he kept thinking about you. He just  _could not_  understand you. He kept replaying every moment he had spent with you in his head, trying to recognize any signs of a hidden clue or disguised piece of the puzzle as to why you were so.....  _intriguing._  Why was he so interested in finding out what was going on inside your head? The mood swings, the hidden backstory, he wanted to find it. Not for you, but to learn more about gems as a species.

He had gotten a lot of information out of Pearl's story of the "Homeworld-Rebellion War", which was apparently this giant gem battle that if the Crystal Gems hadn't won would've destroyed the entire Earth with a creature called "The Cluster". Sans wanted to know as much as possible about gems. Don't get the wrong idea, though. He had no intention of befriending these living geodes. He didn't trust them at all. He had checked their stats when they weren't paying attention, just in case they could sense being checked like monsters could. They were all so strong. He could still recall the numbers he got.

* * *

**Pearl**

**Attack 833**

**Defense 833**

**HP 20**

* * *

**Amethyst**

**Attack 722**

**Defense 722**

**HP 20**

* * *

**Garnet**

**Attack 944**

**Defense 944**

**HP 40**

* * *

**Steven Quartz Universe**

**Attack 20**

**Defense 20**

**HP 60**

* * *

Yeah, Steven was indefinitely a pascifist with a lot of hope for the future. Although, Sans could sense a much stronger being from Steven. Specifically from the kid's stomach, for some reason. Sans had decided to ask Steven about it the next time they met up. Sans got off his bed, having been replaying the day in his head. He was incredibly relieved to finally have been done with the half a month long trip from Mount Ebott, a mountain on the tip of the upper Appalachians in Canada, to Beach City, a little waterfront town in Florida. The cyan clad skeleton climbed down the latter from his spotless room (he would have to fix that later) and trudged down the stairs to the lower level of the house. Everyone that resided in the building was downstairs watching Mettaton's back to school special on Alphys' pastel pink laptop that had anime stickers littering its surface. The robot had invited the winner class of his "Fabulous School Starter Competition" to his set to give out free MTT brand school supplies and technologies for their entire school before he announced that he would be moving from his set in LA to his family and friends in Florida.

Sans strided past the group, trading his pink slippers for the pair of dark blue sneakers by the front door. Apparently Toriel either hadn't noticed the time, or she was totally fine with her kids being up at five in the morning. Sans told everyone, "I'm going for a walk on the beach." Then creaked open the door and stepped outside. He got about five steps off the porch before the door opened behind him. It was Frisk and Chara. "We're coming with you!" Sans rolled his white pinpricks and turned around. "Come on, kiddos. It's literally just a walk in the park! I can do this on my own. Watch." He began to walk backwards. "Right, left, right, left. Well would you look at that! I'm walking!" As if on cue, the skeleton's right foot landed in a hole dug by that oversized pink lion, and he fell into it. The twins ran to his side, looping their arms each under one of his. He called out for help. "Tori!"

The maternal goat queen appeared in the doorway. "Alright, children. Come here. It's high time for you two to go to bed." The brunettes whined, one in sign language and one vocally. "But Mom!"  _'P-A-P-Y-R-U-S gets to stay up!'_ Toriel wasn't having it. "Now now, leave Sans alone. Bedtime!" Frisk and Chara trudged their feet through the sand, very slowly making their way into the house after releasing Sans. Before Toriel could turn back inside, Sans spoke up. "Hey Tori?" She looked back with a, "Hm?" "Think you could put Paps to bed, too? Don't want him to be  **bone tired**  when he meets the other humans around here." Toriel chuckled. "Of course, friend." "Thanks Tori." With that, the monster queen retreated back inside and Sans turned to the moonlit waterfront. For a second, he thought he saw a glimpse of something shining at the far end of the shore near the town.

He began walking towards the flash of light, listening to the waves crash onto the sand. As he got closer, he realized that whatever he had seen was under the wooden beams of a boardwalk. He readied his magic, just in case anything popped out at him with the intent to harm him. The sound of the ocean waves was mixed with what seemed like splashing, and Sans squinted his eyes to see a figure wading in the shallow waters. He hid behind the closest support beam and peeked around it to spy on the figure. Whoever he was looking at appeared dazed, lost in thought with their head hung down as they treaded through the water that soaked their feet. He followed the shadow, pacing from pillar to pillar until he realized the familiarity of the figure. It was  _you._  You took a couple steps more before peeling your head up. Sans thought you had done so realizing he was there, and jumped behind the beam he was next to. He heard a sort of dropping sound, and turned back to discover that tears were falling from your chin to join the sea.

He raised a bone brow at this as you lowered yourself into the waves and sat in the shallows of the shore, only your ankles and hips in the water. After a brief moment of thought on your part, you crossed your arms on your knees and pulled your legs closer to your torso, burying your face in your arms as your shoulders shook. If Sans listened closer, he could hear you muttering to yourself. "I killed her...... How could I have killed her......? This isn't real....." So you hadn't gotten over what had happened earlier. You had hid your true emotions away in the corner of your mind.  _Just like Sans._  The skeleton felt sympathy for you. When he had killed Frisk, it was to judge them for their actions. But based on your reactions, this "Onyx" person hadn't done anything wrong. That had to hurt worse than what Sans had to do. You had killed an innocent person, an apparent close friend at that.

He came out of hiding, his shoes crunching in the sand as he stepped closer to you. He hesitated for a moment. You were a  _rock._  How could you have feelings? What if you knew he was here? What if this was all a setup to trick him so you could attack? He took the moment to check your numbers and flinched at what he saw.

* * *

**Mystic Topaz**

**"Missy"**

**Attack 2000**

**Defense 2000**

* * *

How could you be so strong? You would've had to have killed over 100 people to have that much power. Sans rethought approaching you. If this really was a trap, would it be an encounter he could escape? He was powerful, yes. But were battles the same on the surface as they were in the Underground? Sans decided against his decision. He turned back and headed back to the new house. He could have just teleported, but that would be an unnessescary amount of energy wasted on such a short distance. It wasn't like in the Underground where magic energy could be replenished faster by hanging around the crystals in Waterfall. As he silently left, he could still catch the sounds of you weeping on your own in silence, regret and guilt pooling in the gem at your core.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I barely posted this today and it akready has over 100+ hits and almost 10 kudos. I'm just- how- I can't even- (insert other generic white girl comments)
> 
> THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!


	10. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pretty much just an overview of my headcannons of the characters and a little insight on how Missy and Sans' interactions are going to be for a while. Also featuring my theorieson how Gems and Monsters survive and get their power.

> **202X, September third, Beach City, The Temple,  8:00 AM**

You sat atop the sapphire hand of the temple fusion, the opposite of the palm with the laundry line and machines. It had been about a week now that the monsters had moved in, and you had mostly tried to avoid them if you were being honest. You weren't very fond of monsters, mostly because the other gems told you a gem monster had poofed you all that time ago. You didn't really believe them. Still, you were being cautious. You also weren't very good with new people in general. That experience was pretty much ruined when you first met the gems.

* * *

  _"H-Hello... I'm Mystic Topaz..." A white skinned gem, a beautiful ivory pearl embedded in the skin on her forehead, covered her mouth with her hand, obvious shock shown on her face. "A mystic topaz? But I thought we said it was a mystic **quartz?** " Another gem, this one covered in violet with an amethyst stone shining from just under the cut of her shirt, took a step back, seemingly in fear. "N-no.... We can't have her! She's too dangerous!" The tallest of the three, maroon clad and with two gems on each palm, stood with a blank expression. "Yes we can" _

_The previous two stared up at her in awe. The white pearl replied. "Are you crazy? Garnet, she's a threat not just to us or Beach City, but this entire planet!" The runt amethyst pipes up next. "You can't let her stay here! What about Steven?!" The boy you Knew to be Steven Universe stepped out from behind you. "What are you guys talking about? Missy is nice! See?" He turned to you and lifted his arms in the air in a pick-me-up motion. You clasped your hands under his arms and hoisted him off the ground like nothing. You placed him on your shoulders while he laughed, you staying silent._

_Pearl looked on suspiciously, her left eye twitching. "Missy?" Steven slid down your back so that he was hanging onto you piggyback style, his arms softly hugging your neck. Not that you needed to breathe anyway. "Yeah! Mystic Topaz is kind of a mouthful, so I just shortened it to Missy!" Amethyst summoned her whip and carefully lassoed the curly haired boy off of you. "Don't give her nicknames!" He looked at you with his dark chocolate brown eyes and a warm smile, to which you gleefully returned. "She doesn't seem to mind!"_

* * *

To this day, you still didn't know why they thought you were so dangerous. Because of this, you were never the best person when it came to new people, unlike Steven. You tried to be as friendly as possible, of course, but you always had that deep down feeling that they wouldn't like you. Although, an even deeper feeling hides below that. A hope. A hope that maybe, with every new person you meet, just one of them knew something about the memories you had long lost. Without that hope, you were pretty much against any new people at all.

Steven was currently still asleep, and the gems had a mission that they refused your assistance on. So, you got some free time. The gems always thought you enjoyed times like this. Times where you didn't have any dangerous missions to be out on, you didn't have to keep a constant watch on Steven (from Pearl's insistence). Times where you could just sit back, let your thoughts run freely through your mind, and just breathe. In all honesty though, what were you supposed to think about? The very few memories you had made in the past year with the gems? The memories you try so hard to get back after losing them? The fact that you delt the final blow to the only friend you ever remembered having?

In times like these, the best you could do for yourself is to clear your mind and travel to a world of your own. A world where no mistakes are ever made, and you can run around as much as you want. A world where bad things don't exist, and the only memories you need to worry about are the ones you create yourself. In that world, you can play with Steven and Amethyst for hours, spar in a friendly match with Pearl while Garnet gets to nurture the loving relationship that holds her together. This perfect world, you could get lost in it for hours. Pearl always says that your daydreaming habits are more on the unhealthy side, but Garnet encourages it. She says it's your way of "finding love and trust within yourself."

Whatever that meant. You looked around, in the left palm of the stone fusion that held your home at its core. The view was fantastic. The ocean glimmered as the sun's warm rays shone on it, the flickering reflection of the giant helium based star glittering in the morning light. If you stood just on Obsidian's fingertips and looked beyond the cliff, you could see the monster's house. You never really stopped to look at it, but the estate was quite big. Three stories high, you figured the roof wouldn't be too hard to power jump to. That was something you often did; roof jumping. Though none of the human residents of Beach City had ever seen or suspected that you even existed, save for Connie, you liked to hop across the rooftops of their homes at night when all of the shops and tourist attractions had been closed and the lights of all of their houses had long since been flickered off. Ever since the entire town came to the temple and complained about the noise though, you weren't allowed to go roof jumping anymore.

You analyzed all of the Dreemurr family and friends in your mind. Toriel was a very nice, friendly person that you didn't mind talking to. She was very sweet, and she made a lovely butterscotch-cinnamon pie. Her husband Asgore wasn't too bad either. He was very tender and affable, and his golden flower tea was by far the best beverage you had ever tasted. The couple were both very humble rulers, and their kids weren't too far off. Chara was very careful of everything they did. They always seemed to be constantly worrying if what they said or did was the wrong thing to say or do. They always hid behind their twin, in their shadow if they could help it. Frisk, on the other hand, was very talkative. Despite their disability. You never really could tell what they were saying unless Chara or one of the monster's were there to translate. You heard from Steven that they had a whiteboard somewhere in their boxes, and that they would start using it when it was unpacked with the expo markers.

Moving from the royal family, you thought of the ex captain of The Royal Guard. An aquatic monster with cerulean scales and wild crimson hair. Her appearance was very intimidating, what with the razor sharp yellowed teeth and eye patch, but she was actually pretty cool. An anime enthusiast and avid combatant, you figured that Steven probably idolized her already. Her girlfriend, Alphys, was quite the opposite. She was very timid and quiet, and she stuttered when she did speak. She claims to have been the former royal scientist before the liberation, and you could tell that Pearl and her were getting along swell. Like her girlfriend, she also binged her share of anime. Then we have Papyrus. Now  _he_  was an oddball. He was incredibly naive, but also curious. His innocence reminded you of Steven, though it seemed..... forced.... at times. You've come to the conclusion that he knew more than he leads on.

And finally, Sans. You didn't actually know much about the guy except that he was incredibly lazy and quite the comedian. No one seemed to notice it, but you saw that he somehow adopted dark circles under his eye sockets. Unlike his brother's, the eye lights in those sockets seemed much more dim and mellow. You didn't know much about skeletal monsters, or monsters in general, but you guessed that he must've gone through a great deal to make those pin pricks have significantly less of a glow to them than Papyrus'. You still had yet to meet the robotic monster pop icon that was Mettaton, but you had a feeling he wasn't that far away. Lost in your thoughts, you had your eyes closed. You did this every time you were thinking about something. It helped you to block out your surroundings and mentally picture whatever it was you were thinking about. Whether it be the analysis of your new neighbors or a daydream you were caught up in that you never wanted to leave. You blocked out all sound and shut yourself out from the world for a moment. You tried to gather more information you knew about Sans, like piecing together a puzzle that you had barely started. You had the bare outline, but all of the other pieces were lost. As if you had to go on a scavenger hunt for each missing piece. You knew he didn't like surprises. He probably would've had a heart attack that time you jumped off the Cliff with him... If he had a heart, of course. Not to mention that he always seemed to be so tense, as if constantly awaiting for someone do something out of line. You figured he was probably someone who, when given a schedule, sticks to it. And if something goes wrong, he'd try to fix it in any way possible.

And then there was the comment he made When he went on the mission with you and the gems.  _"I mean, I know how that feels. Having to...." He trailed off, not wanting to say it directly. "To do something like that to someone you care about, so you can protect someone else you love. I know the feeling."_ Did he have to kill someone he cared about? To protect someone? If so, who was he protecting? It has to have been someone who couldn't protect themselves, someone who would refuse to kill. Alphys maybe? Papyrus? Who did he kill? You figured anyone could be a threat if they had the right motivation. Even if it wasn't with the intention to kill. You'd probably never get it out of him. Those kinds of memories are the ones you don't want to relive. Beside's finding out from the skeleton himself, you doubted any of the other monsters knew about his murderous deed. And if he killed someone, they wouldn't be alive for you to find them. Without any hard proof, you couldn't even confirm that Sans  _did_ kill anyone. For all you knew, he could've just been lying to make you feel better.

In your analytical trance, you didn't even realize when the comedic skeleton had arrived and stood over you, blocking the sun and casting an ominous shadow over your body. You snapped out of your thoughts, almost falling off the stone hand and shrieking in terror at the dark figure. All you could see were his eye lights, and for a minute You could've sworn that the left one shone a bright blue for a moment. You squinted to see it better, but it was gone before you could confirm your suspicion. "Heya." You looked down. There wasn't any ladders for him to climb. Could he fly? "How'd you get up here?" There was a brief moment of awkward tension. "Tori wanted me to invite you to the house warming party we're having tomorrow night." You raised an eyebrow at him. "Why'd she send you? And could you please not block the sun. You're creeping me out." 

He stepped to the side and sat down, dangling his feet off the side of the sculpture. "What's wrong with her sending me?" You sat the opposite way, cross legged with your back turned to the monster. "Well, you're not the friendliest one of the bunch. I can tell. If I was going to send a verbal invitation to someone, I'd send either Papyrus, Frisk, or Toriel herself. At least they have a more friendly and warm atmosphere. With you, it's just like, 'We're having a party. Come to it.' No offense." His jacket rustled as he shrugged. "None taken, and I get what you mean. She sent me 'cause she said I don't know you as well as everyone else. She wants me to socialize, or something like that. The other gems home?" You shook your head, your hair waving on your head. "Not yet. They should be back soon. Steven's asleep, but I'll tell everyone when they wake up and/or get back." It was then that you remembered the time. Who wakes up at eight AM on a weekend?

"Do you know what time it is?" Sans hummed in acknowledgment. "Eight 'O five." You tilted your body a little so that you're shoulder was facing him. "What are you doing up this early? Or are monsters different than humans in that they need less rest?" He chuckled. "How much sleep can you really get with all the stress of moving to not just a new house or town, but a different country? Can you blame me?" You thought about that. "I guess you're right." There was a silence, and you could hear the wind howling by as it blew your (Hair Color) hair from your neck. Sans tried to avoid the whipping strands until the breeze died down. "What about you?" You glanced over your shoulder. "Huh?" His arms were propped behind him supporting his sitting stance from the back. "What are you doing awake right now?" You looked back at the sea, where the salmon pink and orange creme sunrise reflected off of the waves behind the ruby hand of the temple, Steven's laundry drying on the line on the other side of the beach. "I'm a gem." You could almost already tell he had raised a nonexistent eye brow at you. "And?" You turned around to face the skeleton, and he you. "Gems are made of light. We don't actually need to sleep, or eat...... or breathe, I guess. We just do." He rest his skull on his balled up fist, looking off and getting lost in his thoughts as you normally do.

"It's the same way for Paps and I. As skeletons with no real organs or muscles, we don't need to do all of that to survive. We can eat, but only monster food. Either that, or anything we put into our bodies literally just falls right out near the rib cage and where our intestines would be." You nodded. "That explains why Papyrus couldn't eat his cookie cat." Sans laughed. "Yeah. We usually just eat to regain magical energy when we're low and can't get to Waterfall, and since Waterfall is back in the Underground we're going to need a lot of monster food to keep our energies up." You gave him a confused expression. "Waterfall...?" He looked back up at you, lazily shifting the pin pricks of light in his eyes instead of actually looking up. "Oh. It's this place we had in the Underground. Actually, it was more like a region or biome than a place. Anyway, It's this cave-like place filled with bio-luminescent plants. Even the algae in the water had a nice glow to it, and it made it look like the water itself was glowing. You didn't even need a flashlight or anything to walk through it, the native flora provided all the light you needed for the entire trip through the region. Well, most of it anyway." You pictured that in your head. It sounded beautiful. "And how did that help you get magical energy or whatever?" Sans readjusted his stance so that he sat cross legged while he explained monster logic to you. "Right. In Waterfall, there were these blue crystals that were filled to the brim with magical energy. So much so, that they gave off some of it in the form of light to keep themselves from exploding. I remember studying the crystals with my dad once, and we found out that it wasn't the crystals themselves that stored and gave off the energy; It was the crystallized fossils of a prehistoric monster species that could only live and thrive in the air pockets of the cave walls. After they had died, their dust had mineralized and become crystals over time. Despite that the creatures themselves were gone, their magical energy remained in their fossils, and they had lived in such large colonies that the energies of many fossils could combine to form in crystals."

To be honest, you thought it was pretty cool that monsters could absorb magical energy from the fossils of other monsters. With Gems, you just always had energy. You got your energy from the light source of whatever planet or satellite you were currently on, which was a star most of the time. Now that you thought about it, Gems were kind of like those solar powered dashboard dancers, like the hula dancer that Greg has in his van. You've never had to worry about running out of energy. "So... how or where do you get monster food? Do you, like, make it or something?" Sans chuckles again. "Kind of. You have to get it from a monster who specializes in creating monster food. Monsters like Grillby, who can easily replenish their energy without the food or crystals." You tilt your head at the skeleton. "I'm going to assume that this 'Grillby' is a person." He nods, staring at the giant stone gem he sits on with furrowed..... bone brows? "Yeah. He's a fire elemental, so he gets his energy from anything combustible or flammable. No one's ever seen him actually do this despite him owning his own restaurant and bar, but for all I know he just eats firewood in the kitchen when he needs to." Imagining that image in your mind, A man made of flames consuming an entire log of wood, it made you laugh a little. "Pfft." You immediately covered your mouth and stopped laughing to yourself. You hated when you laughed like that. It sounded like you were spitting something out, and it was the grossest sound you had ever heard come out of your mouth. You peeked at Sans for a moment, where he was obviously confused about your actions. "You don't have to be embarrassed about laughing, you know. It was _supposed_ to be funny." You avoided his gaze for a minute. "I just don't like that particular laugh." He seemed to get even more confused. "So, what kind of laugh  _do you_  like?" You were caught off guard. "Just a regular laugh. You know, haha or something like that. Or was it heehee?" You saw Sans looking at you with an amused stare. Your cheeks grew warm. "You clever little bastard."

He actually laughed this time. It was weird. The entire time the monsters had been here, you hadn't seen him laugh once. Maybe a few chuckles or snickers here and there, but never a genuine laugh like this. You felt kind of uncomfortable with it since you actually didn't know him that well. When he calmed down, he played back into his normal self. "Sorry, no one's called me out like that before. I didn't mean to laugh at you. I'm so used to the same reactions to my antics, and I just wasn't expecting that. Guess I'm in for something else, huh?" You decided not to answer that and look at the sunrise again, only to see that the sun was almost over the horizon already. Your eyes widened. "How long have we been just sitting here?!" Sans took his phone from his left jacket pocket. "Oh shit..... It's been fifty minutes....." You ran your hand through your hair and took a deep breathe. "I've gotta go check on Steven. I assume you can get down the same way you somehow got up here?" He nodded. "Good. See you later," You bent your knees to jump to the porch of the house, but said one last thing before leaving. "I guess." You then hopped away. Sans looked after you as you did so, shaking his head subtly.  _'Why does she think she's got to keep up this hardened persona?'_  He knew you didn't mean anything by it, and you might not've even known you were doing it, but you were. It was even kind of playful. Whatever the case, he got a small slip of paper from his pocket as well as the pencil Steven had given him. It was a light shade of (Favorite Color) with a bunch of cartoon breakfast items that had faces. For some reason that Sans didn't know, they were all crying. On the paper, Steven had written his phone number so Sans could contact him if he ever got lonely or wanted to talk. "Heh." Steven was a sweet kid, and he was much like Frisk when Sans first met the kid in Snowdin Forest. In a way, he also reminded Sans of his younger brother a little bit. It wasn't such a bad combination, but at least Steven looked better than the drawing Chara once drew of what they would look like if Papyrus and Frisk were to somehow fuse together. It came out to be a He Man looking skeleton creature with hair.  Although he didn't say it out loud to spare Chara's feelings, Sans honestly thought it was kind of cringey.

The older skeleton brother had already put the half-gem's number into his cellular device, so he wrote his own phone number on the back of the paper before making it float over to get stuck between the door and door frame of the Gem's house. To hide his magical ability, he made it flip and turn in the air so that it would look like it was flying by in the wind. Thankfully, you had already gone inside and didn't see any of what Sans just did. He hoped that you would find it, so he could continue to communicate with you. Toriel was right to send him. You were actually cooler than Sans had originally thought of you. Then he remembered your stats.  _'More than one hundred people...'_  You were pretty good at hiding the fact that you were a mass murderer. Sans wondered if the other Gems knew, and if any of the other monsters had checked you as he did. There was no doubt, you were dangerous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . And yet he had just invited you to his family's house warming party. He stepped off of the fingers of the giant sculpture of whoever it was the temple was supposed to be and suspended his jacket so that it looked like he was actually falling, but he slowed himself down at the end and softened his landing onto the sand. Walking back to the new house, he fought with his own thoughts as he tried to decide to befriend you for real or to keep an eye on you. **He chose the latter.**  You were so strong and experienced in battle, and if you were to hurt one of the people he cared about, even by accident, there would be hell to pay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be the longest yet. Be prepared. I'm still working on it though, so you'll have to wait until it's done. This is where my updating process starts to slow down. I tend to disappear for months on end, but just hang with me.


	11. Chapter Nine

202X, September fourth, Beach City, The Temple, 5:30 PM.

After the gems had gotten back yesterday and Steven had woken up, you had told them about the House warming party the monsters were having at six O'clock today. Which was only in an hour. Fortunately for you gems, it only took literally five seconds for you to get ready. All you had to do was shape-shift into a different outfit. Apparently Sans had texted Steven after he left saying the theme was a beach party, so everyone was in corresponding attire. It didn't take long for Steven to get ready either, since he threw on a pair of red swim trunks with yellow stars and the pink button up shirt Connie had gotten him for his birthday. You were all ready to go and Pearl kept insisting that you arrive early to show good neighborship, but for some reason Garnet kept stalling for time.

"We need to bring something for everyone. The Maheswarans are bringing a vegetable plate, so we need to beat them as good neighbors." She spoke with an emotionless expression and monotone voice, as always. Although, she seemed to be holding back some kind of anxiety. She looked to Steven, who was standing in an awkward T-pose as Pearl slathered him thoroughly in sunscreen while muttering to herself quietly about the dangers of too much UV radiation on the human skin. "Right, Steven? You don't want Connie to one-up us in Frisk and Chara's friendship contest, do you?"

In all honesty, you had forgotten about that silly competition. Not too long ago, Frisk and Chara had proposed that they, Connie, Steven, and even Onion somehow got into it that they have a friendship contest. Whoever can win the twins over in the next month will get a feature on the cover of the next issue of MTTMonthly magazine. As far as you knew, Amethyst was winning. Somehow. You didn't even remember her being in the contest in the first place. But that's none of your business. You took a sip of the sweet tea you had made yourself while Steven was getting ready/secretly watching Crying Breakfast Friends on his phone and taking an extra long time in the bathroom and then pretending he wasn't watching the cartoon. 

Like you had told Sans that morning, you didn't need to actually drink the tea. But you liked the way it tasted. It was smooth and refreshing, with a glistening brown coloring that shone when you held it up to a light. The sugar was a twist that you liked, as it made the beverage sweet and tasty. Not to mention, when you first saw Steven drinking a cup of tea, you honestly couldn't resist with the way the condensation of the water droplets on the glass had seductively trickled down to the base of the container until it dropped to the countertop like a tease.  
Now, you drank it all the time. The only problem you had with it was the feeling of having to pass the liquid out of your bodily illusion. It just felt so weird and gross, but you've gotten used to it. By now, The five of you were just waiting for Steven. He had gone into the city to make his together breakfast for the party. He rushed into the temple, holding the screen door open for Lion with empty arms as the undead feline beast waltzed into the living room with a wide-mouthed yawn. "I thought you got the ingredients?" The boy held up a finger, signaling for you to wait as he gasped in a giant breathe and dived head first into Lion's mane. He came back out with a brown paper bag full of waffles, popcorn, whipped cream, strawberries, and chocolate syrup. 

You chuckled. "Wow. You've officially taken lazy to a whole new level, Starboy." He laughed at your comment and at the nickname. Ever since you had first met Steven, He always had the same red shirt with a yellow star on it. You couldn't remember his name very well at first, so he'd been pinned 'Starboy.' You proceeded to help out with making multiple plates of Together Breakfast, guarding the foodstuffs from a certain purple gem. By the time you were finished, it was already six forty-five. Pearl rushed into the room with Garnet trailing her. "I knew we should have gone early! Come on, Steven, we'll all carry a few plates and get over to the house! I can't believe we're late!"

You nudged Amethyst with your elbow and snickered. The two of you always found enjoyment in Pearl's OCD freak outs. She was so much like a first time mom, it was funny at times. You grabbed two plates on your hands and balanced one on your head. Steven had two servings, Pearl and Garnet both had one, and Amethyst had shapeshifted to make herself look like an anthropomorphic purple spider to carry the rest. The sand on the beach was warm, as it had been baking in the sun all the day, but it had cooled down enough during the sunset that it didn't scorch the bottoms of your feet. It was actually quite the pleasant feeling. Walking over to the shore in front of the Monsters' new house, you smelled a most delicious aroma resonating from the small grill Asgore was standing in front of. Toriel had set up a large blanket on the sand for everyone to sit on, and by large, it was huge. It looked more like a quilt of various shades of indigo and gold with an odd symbol of a white circle with wings and three triangles underneath it in the middle. 

The ground underneath it was flat enough for all of the food and plates to sit on top of the cloth around the goat woman, who was wearing a dark blue strapless swimsuit top and yellow flowing skirt. Very tropical, but she looked good. Asgore, of course, was in a similar outfit you first met him in. A simple pink flower-print button up shirt with brown khaki cargo shorts. His blonde hair... Or fur? His blonde hair/fur was tied up in a man bun so it wouldn't bother him while he barbecued veggie shishkabobs, grilled hot dogs, and burger patties that sizzled and smoked with a rich temptation. You hated to even think this, but it put Steven's together breakfast to shame. Looking around, you saw all of the monster family in either swimsuits or beach wear.

Undyne and Alphys were in matching bikinis, Undyne's being orange while Alphys' was blue. Both were covered in white polka dots. Papyrus, contrary to his battle suit, wore a pair of red swimming trunks with spaghetti noodle stripes that were no doubt custom made to fit his pelvic bones (and most likely custom designed, too). He held a beach blow-up ball and appeared to be trying to convince Sans to play volleyball with him. Sans, who was in a matching pair of blue swim trunks with yellow flame patterns on the cuffs (also custom made) with his signature blue parka hiding his rib cage and upper skeletal body. Frisk and Chara were both in red leotard swimsuits. Even without all of their baggy clothing, it was near impossible to tell their gender. As your mind always drifted, so had your eyes unknowingly to Chara's between-the-legs area, trying to determine what they had behind their swimsuit. 

This was most likely why Chara had noticed you first. They stared at you confusedly for a good moment or so before they noticed exactly where you were looking. Their face exploded in a shade of red much darker than their swimsuit, and they waved their hands in the air to get you to look up. The minute you realized you were basically checking out a ten year old, you looked directly at your feet with a scarlet tint to your cheeks. You felt like a sexual predator, and it was NOT a good feeling. You heard footsteps on the sand running towards you, and your eyes flicked up to see the twins running towards you. They reached where you were standing, and you immediately started to apologize rapidly. Frisk seemed like they were laughing, but you didn't hear anything. Were they physically mute, or was it selective as you had previously thought? The more tanned child of the two started to sign to you. You kept your eyes trained on their hands as they slowly made their hand formations. They had been trying to teach you and the Gems sign language for a while, and you were picking up at least a little bit of what they were saying. You spoke the words out loud as you saw them form.

"Something.... Something.... Much happy.... Here?" Steven chuckled. He was doing much better at this than you were. "Frisk says they're very happy we could make it!" The monster ambassador's face lit up like a Christmas tree as they nodded furiously. Chara gave the gem hybrid boy a wide smile. You couldn't tell if it had always been there, but you noticed a faint pink blush blended into their cheeks. Frisk and Steven continued to sign and talk while walking towards the shore as Toriel's voice rang through the air. "Hello!" You and the Gems looked over to see her calmly sitting on her calves and waving. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl all started heading towards the maternal monster queen, leaving you with Chara. You awkwardly looked down at the child, their face this time. 

"Um.... Sorry.... About earlier, I mean! Its just... I can't tell.... I'm kind of curious if... Are you and Frisk....?" They cut off in your rambling. "We prefer to stay gender neutral." You were taken back a little by the knowledge of the nine year old. "Oh...." You looked around the beach again, scanning your eyes over everyone and evaluating them in your head all over again. Your eyes met with Sans' lack of, and a shiver rolled up and down your spine accompanied by goosebumps setting on your skin. He was watching you with empty black sockets, like a hunter analyzes their catch before the kill. You had a feeling you were the cliché deer in headlights. He gave off a dark cloud aura, and you had to take a deep breathe just to calm yourself from the horror that the stout skeleton struck in you. He noticed that you saw him, and he turned away to get lightly hit with the plastic beach ball Papyrus had thrown to him.

You glanced at Chara, wondering if they saw it as well, and they had the same fear-stricken expression, if not worse, written on their face in bold. "Can I ask you a question?" Chara slowly looked back up at you with worried ruby eyes, and nodded silently. "This is going to sound weird, but.... Has Sans ever, um, killed anyone? That you know of, of course." They flinched and began to shake slightly, but it was hardly noticeable. "W-what?! H-how do you know about that?! I mean, What are you talking about?! I don't know if Sans killed..... Someone. Even if he did, w-why would I know?! You're just being weird!" You blinked in shock at the child. What in the world were they going on about? They were speaking much too fast for you to comprehend a single word of their speech, so you just decided to let it go. When they stopped spouting nonsense, you could hear them mumbling to themselves about a glowing eye. Whatever the hell that was supposed to mean. Maybe a symbol of some sorts?

As all of the other gems had done when they went their separate directions, you walked over to Toriel and set down your plates of loaded waffles. The goat woman and Garnet were chatting amongst themselves, though Toriel was doing most of the talking while Garnet listened politely. She snuck in a few comments here and there, but she wasn't much of a talker. Silent and mysterious is the fusion of balance. Neither of them seemed to notice you, but you honestly didn't mind. Besides, you were perfectly content with sitting back and relaxing the whole party, letting your mind wander to a parallel universe of the scene in front of you. Little did you know, that was not the plan life had in store for you.

Soon enough, some of the townsfolk arrived, and you slithered unnoticeably into the shadows on the side of the monster's house. You watched as they greeted the monsters with a mix of fear, uncertainty, and yet friendliness as your new neighbors introduced themselves with thick layers of inviting atmosphere. You had a feeling that, despite Beach City's corrupted gem problem, the citizens would warm up to the monster family. Connie caught a glance of your form, and she subtly waved while making sure no one else saw. You still weren't sure if the gems were ready to introduce you to the rest of Beach City yet, and apparently neither did the Indian girl. You sat down on the sand, which was colder here from the lack of sun, and honed your senses to the soft crashing of the waves on the shore. You closed your eyes and let yourself relax, coaxing your imaginary body into a human state of sleep.

Images flashed before your eyes. Some of them went by too fast for your mind to register what they showed, but you could catch small glimpses of a few. A small portion of them were familiar to you. Onyx before she was corrupted, a smile spread between her black lips as she gave you a bright smile. The four-pointed symbol of the Diamond Authority. Rose Quartz in a battle stance, sword and shield in hand as she braced herself for an oncoming attack from a Jasper. Onyx's shards broken on the ground in front of you.

But others you didn't recognize. Sapphire standing in front of a giant blue Palanquin. Ruby standing in a line with countless other Ruby cuts. Amethyst still being formed in her home in the Kindergarten as larger Amethyst guards emerged from the wall of rock. A pregnant Rose Quartz standing in front of Greg's van holding a video camera in front of her face. An ordinary Earth lion's carcass with pink tears dropped on it's mane as they trickled onto the wildcat's face. Pearl standing in front of a Pink Palanquin in Homeworld attire.

And then, the pictures progressively became more twisted and unusual. Some of them didn't relate to anything you knew at all. A child that looked like Frisk laying unconscious on a bed of golden flowers. Toriel and Asgore standing side by side, both in expensive regal garments, walking into a laboratory to greet a man in a lab coat who's face was much too blurry to see. Baby Papyrus covered in noodles and spaghetti sauce, the same blurry-faced man holding him like a father would their child. Chara with their eyes and mouth dripping with a strange black substance. Frisk holding a knife, their clothes and skin absolutely powdered in a fine gray ash as they stared with an empty psychotic glare. Sans standing in a golden corridor, left eye ablaze with a royal blue flame as a demonic Dragon skull floated behind him, a crimson substance staining and smearing all areas of the background behind him. The lifeless corpse of a child in a bloody blue and purple striped sweater.   
All the while, an unknown voice whispered sadistically in your ears. 

"Join Us."  
A shiver traveled up your entire body as it echoed off of whatever purgatory you were trapped in.

"Join Us"  
"Join Us"  
"Join Us."  
"hElP mE"  
"Join Us"

You woke up three hours later in a cold sweat. You wanted to scream. You wanted to cry. You wanted to run, but something held you still. It felt like your entire body was possessed by some unfamiliar being. You couldn't move, or talk, or do anything for that matter. You were stuck in this state of full-body paralysis, and you couldn't even breathe to hyperventilate. You were freaking the hell out on the inside, though your body didn't show it. The voice continued, even out of your hellish nightmare. "Join Us." It multiplied, and suddenly there were two. "Join Us." Then four, then six. "Join Us. Join us. jOiN uS. JOIN US." All of a sudden, six transparent beings showed in your view, all with the same black ectoplasm you saw overflowing from Chara's face spilling out of their own empty eyes and gaping mouths. They were holding you down by your arms, feet, and neck. They all laughed maniacally before disappearing in swirls of fog and mist.

An ear-splitting scream was caught in your throat, and it was physically painful to hold it in. But you knew you couldn't release the blood curdling sound, for you sat up to see more people than ever at the house warming party. If you were to blow your cover and alert literally all of Beach City that they've been living so close to an unknown gem, Pearl would have your ass. Not to mention the chaos of panic and fear that would arise from the humans, and the following confusion from the monsters. Completely sitting up now, you saw a paper picnic plate with a choice of a bare grilled hot dog or burger with some crinkle cut fries on the empty side of the Dixie plate. A small note written on a yellow sticky note was stuck to the raised rim of the plate.

Written in Asgore's handwriting (you recognized it from the signatures he wrote on some important looking papers he was carrying around a few days ago), he wrote, "Feel free to come get any toppings and/or sauces you would like. We couldn't decide if you would prefer hot dogs or hamburgers, so I gave you both. You don’t have to finish it all. PS: Why are you hiding? This is a party!" The left corner of your mouth raised slightly to form a small smile at the hospitality of the monarchical monster rulers. You didn't even intend to eat anything, and you had already planned to have your fun at the party when all of the city goers had left, but you guessed it wouldn't hurt to talk to the hosts via instant messaging.

Taking out the phone that Steven had suspiciously gotten for you, you pressed down on the power button that was hidden on the back of the cellular device. You still had no idea why the half gem had bought you a phone. For one, it was so sudden and mysterious. Only yesterday, hours after talking with Sans in the early morning, Steven had opened the door casually to meet up with Connie, picked something up off the floor, and ran out of the house in an excited flash, unintentionally slamming the door behind him in the process. When he came back later, he had a rectangular box in his hands. At the time, you were watching an anime that Alphys has recommended you earlier called Yuki Yuna is a Hero.

The reptilian girl seemed to be really interested in the genre that she called "Mahou Shajou". After watching a few episodes, you thought that the theme of cutesy magical girl shows like this fit her. Apparently, she was just wanting you up for a marathon of her favorite anime of all-Time: Mew Mew Kissy Cutey. Undyne wanted you to watch a series called Kill La Kill, and you were going to check it out later. In any case, Steven came into the house and basically yelled out your name for the entire galaxy to hear. When you got down from his bedroom that he obviously didn't see you in, he looked up at you with mischievous eyes and opened up the box to reveal a rose gold phone that was just smaller than the size of your hand. When he was teaching you how to use the phone, you noticed that he put in a bunch of contacts already. Including him, Toriel, Alphys, Frisk, Papyrus, Connie.... and Sans. 

You tried to ask him Why he had put Sans' number in your phone, but he kept avoiding the question and trying to get you to try out an app he had downloaded called Five Nights at Freddy's four. After about fifty eight jumpscares stuck in the third night, you ended up just deleting the app before you destroyed the entire phone in frustration. It was actually pretty useful to have though. You were starting to understand why the humans are so obsessed with these cellular devices. You chose to go the text conversation you had with Undyne, ignoring the previous messages from earlier about her and Papyrus trying to settle an argument on the best way to make spaghetti. Neither of them were winning nor correct, as their answers were either blackening the noodles to make them extra crunchy or stirring the pasta sauce with a flaming spear. As far as you knew, both would (and most likely has) resulted in house fires.

Typing out the needed letters and punctuations on the touch screen (which is very similar to gem technology, so it wasn't hard for you to comprehend) to form the words 'How's the party going out there?' before tapping the send button. You saw the strong fish lady, who in your opinion looked a little buff for a bikini but was still pulling it off, talking to Jenny, Sour Cream, Buck, and Amethyst- no phone in sight. Instead, you heard Toriel call out to her. You only now just noticed this, but you saw a bunch of phones near the goat monster where her, Pearl, Vidalia, Onion, the Maheswarans, and the Pizzas were having their own conversation. Guess Tori and the parental figures were in charge of electronic watch. Undyne excused herself from the Cool Kids Club to grab her phone and check her messages. A little bubble appeared on your screen that said "Spicy Tuna Roll is typing..." You chortle to yourself at the contact name you put her under. 

'Where are you, punk?! You're totally missing out! Alphys and I got invited to a hang out at SC's place!' You looked up and smiled, seeing the scaled woman laughing along hysterically to some kind of joke of one of them had made. You sent your reply. 'I'm just chilling in the lay low. I'm not much of a social person. I'll have to join you when the party dies down a bit, though! Bet I could beat you in a swimming race!' Though she didn't look directly at you since she didn’t actually know where you were, you could see the competitive glint in her amber eyes as she read your challenge. 'You got a death wish?! You're challenging a fish to a swim contest! Guess I'll just have to put you in your place, punk! >;)' Undyne returned her phone to Toriel, a clear sign that that conversation was done. Next on your list was..... Frisk! Without even having to look up, you already knew that they were somewhere with Steven. You took a gander at the texts from earlier. It was just the kid asking if you were coming to the party, but it still made you smirk a little. They were just so excited for you to come! Their energy was actually quite contagious.

`What's up, Frisky bits?´ Because Frisk is mute, it was useless to call them aurally, but texting was a more simple mode of communication when no one was around to translate their sign language for you. You were trying your best to learn, but you weren't catching on too quickly. Not to mention that Frisk also has a text-to-speech app for everyone else. 'Nothing much! Steven, Chara, Connie, and I are up at the lighthouse! It's so cool up here! ^_^´ You scanned the beach for a second before realizing that the group of children really wasn't there. `What'cha doing up there? Just talking?´ You realized that the sun had long set by now, and the party was being illuminated by.... Floating fireballs? It reminded you that you'd have to find out what magic abilities each monster has. It'd be cool to learn about what the monsters can do. Your phone vibrates, and you glanced back at the screen.

`Just Chara and I telling the story of how we liberated the entire monster race from their underground prison that they were kept in for centuries.´ You had to slap a hand over your mouth to keep your laughter in. You let out a sigh instead and typed up on the keyboard. `One: you can't put "Just" in front of that statement. Two: Again? Haven't those two heard it like twenty times already?´ The party was a little less populated now as it started to get late. You checked the time in the top right of your phone screen. 9:30PM. The party was already going on for almost three hours! These monsters really knew how to party if they can keep the humans entertained. Then again, it could be that the humans are starting to gain fascination for the former underground dwellers.

`Yeah, but Steven never gets tired of it. If he's happy, though, I really don't mind!´ You smiled. Frisk was such a sweet child. They really deserved to have the title of the Pacifist Ambassador. You couldn't believe that a nine year old kid was actually an ambassador to something as serious as mediating for the humans and monsters. `In that case, guess I'll leave you to it!´ After a few seconds, Frisk replied. `Okay, thanks! Talk to you later, Missy!´ In a separate bubble following their goodbye message, a simple three word response appeared. `Steven says hi.´ You knew that Pearl and the other adults were handling themselves just fine, so you didn't feel the need to check up on them. Darting your eyes around the party for a quick second to catch what was going on, you noticed that Sans was nowhere to be found. Papyrus had drifted towards Undyne and the cool kids, but his shorter and older brother was no where in sight.

You didn't actually have any conversations with Sans, so you made a new one. You still wanted to investigate the mystery of Sans' past, but that would have to wait. `Where'd you go? I don't see you anywhere.´ A few seconds later, you heard the door to the monster's house creak open before closing again a few moments after. Sans walked around the corner of the building to join you in the shadows. "I'm here." You gave him a puzzled look. "Parties not your thing then?" He shook his skull. "Something weird happened. I didn't want anyone to see my reaction." Things went silent for a moment, as they usually do when you're talking with the skeleton. It's almost like a representation of the awkward space in your confusing relationship. Were you friends? Not friends? Acquaintances? It was hard to tell, especially with the blanks in his backstory that weren't a problem with anyone else. "So... What happened? If you don't mind me asking, of course." 

He exhaled. Somehow. He doesn't have any lungs. "Out of the blue, I remembered something that I'd really just like to forget at this point." You bring your knees to your chest and crossed your arms on them, resting your head on your elbows. "I know what you mean..." He glanced at your plate, pointing to your hot dog. "You gonna eat that?" You shook your head (as much as you could with your head on your arms). "You can have it." You watched as he grabbed the foodstuff from the plate and brung it to his face. It was weird seeing his teeth part, as you never saw it happen when he spoke, unlike Papyrus. He chewed for a bit before the food suddenly dissolved into a wisp or fog like mist and absorbed into his bones. Your eyes grew wide. "Is that how monster food works?" Sans looked back at you again. "Are you watching me eat?" You flicked your face in the opposite direction with a flustered expression. You hadn't realized you were doing it until he said it, but you were in fact watching him eat. "No. I'm looking at the beach." He took another bite. "Nice try, stalker." 

After he finished the hot dog, he leaned back and lied down on the cool sand. "What about you? What are you doing all secluded in the shadows. Watching people like a creep?" You relaxed your sitting position and looked at everyone. Most of the townsfolk had left, and only Connie and her mom remained. The kids had come down from the lighthouse to be splashing in the water as the moonlight danced on the reflective waves. "It's not my place to say. If you really want to know, you'll have ask the gems." He raised a bone brow. "What I'm getting from that is that they told you to stay here and you don't know why." You shook your head. "No, I know why. It's just that, I haven't been here for all that long, so the gems can explain with the full story." He hummed in agreement and propped his head on his hands. "I see. I'll have to bring that up next time I talk with Pearl." You peeked over your shoulder at him. "You talk with Pearl? I mean, yeah you talk with Pearl, but, like, often?"   
He closed his eyes and relaxed. "And that's unusual because...?" You lied down next to him, folding your hands on your torso and looking up at the starry sky through the cliff wall behind you. "Well, I guess I just don't see you enjoying a conversation about the importance of symmetry and all that boring factual stuff." He chuckled softly. "Guess you don't have all of the pieces to fix together who I am yet." That comment made you think about your previous thoughts of Sans as a murderer. "Yeah... Guess not." You hesitated for a few seconds on whether or not to ask him about it, and you figured that you weren't going to get anywhere if you stayed idle. There was no use hiding it anyway. You wanted to know if a new neighbor was a killer, rather than them hiding it while they get close to the people you care about. "So who was it?" He only opened one eye socket, the one that could look at you. "What're you talking about?" You sat back up and stared out at a bright star near the full moon. Homeworld. "Who'd you kill?" 

Sans stiffened. "That's for me to know, and for you not to." You turned around and sat cross-legged, staring down at him. "Then why'd you even mention it. At the Kindergarten." Both of his eyes were opened now, and his laying position was much more strained now. That stupid, annoying smile never left his face, making his next remark even more obnoxious. "Why'd you kill your best friend?" Your turn to lock up. Your face formed a nasty glare, and your gem began to dimly illuminate the small space around you. "That was a little uncalled for, don't you think?" He started to sit up, low chuckles resonating from a skull adorned with blank and empty eye sockets. It was enough to give you chills, but you were too vexed to care. "I'm just saying! If she was really important to you, then you should've remembered her! Don't take your edgy depression out on me because you murdered your friend in cold blood!"

Your gem was glowing like a torch, and you stood up to stare emotionlessly down at him. You reached up, and your hand phased into your gem to wrap your fingers around the hilt of your sword. "If you want to fight, then let's fight. I didn't expect you to have a provocative side, but if that's the way you want to be, then so be it." Sans stood up as well. Despite having to tilt his head slightly to look up at you, intimidation was there. "Like you would actually win. You can barely even summon that thing on cue in practice, let alone wield it." You pulled your rainbow titanium blade out of the inner containment of your gem, a trail of lights following the multicolored metal as it materialized. Sans walked past you and waved his metacarpals in a 'shoo' motion. "Come back to me when you can actually fight...." You raised the katana above your head and turned on your heel to attack. "... Missy." Just before the blade made contact with his fore-skull, he kicked up a cloud of dust and sand, blinding you. You coughed and waved your arms to clear the obstruction of your vision, but the pesky skeleton was no where in sight.

Your breathing began to become shallow with rage, and you gripped the handle of your weapon tighter and tighter, until your knuckles turned white send your nails dug into the palm of your hand, causing you to bleed. What right did he have to let him talk about Onyx that way?! What gave him permission to antagonize you?! In pure resentment, you swing your katana into the rock wall. Your vision was blocked with red, but when you came to again, a small boulder had been cut out of the cliff.


	12. Chapter Ten

202X, September fourth, ????, The Kindergarten, 10:45 PM.

A few seconds later, a nervous skeleton popped back into existence at the Kindergarten warp pad. He had made a mental note of where it was in the world when he came here the first time, just in case something like this happened and he needed to go somewhere that no one would look for him. It was a little odd trying to find his way after only being here once, but he managed. Falling back on the ether crystal like rock of the warp, he clutched his jacket where his heart would be if he had one. Instead, a faint white glow peeked out from his ribs. Taking his jacket off, he looked to see an upside-down translucent white heart floating in his otherwise empty chest cavity. He knew what this was. After living through a few of the genocide timelines, he had seen this happen multiple times when facing Frisk, or when he was worrying about having to watch everyone get murdered again, or after a nightmare. His soul would randomly show up out of no where. Sometimes it would be more transparent, other times more opaque.

He had gone to see Alphys on the issue, as he hadn’t heard of anything like this in any of the studies he had been in when he was younger. After a quick checkup and a few tests, Alphys had told him that it didn’t seem to be a physical health problem. Over the years in the underground, the royal scientist had been required to study mental health in addition to regular medical care, on the order of the king after the loss of one of his children. Because of this, Alphys had asked Sans to wait at least a week to see if it continues. If so, then to come back to her for a diagnosis. And so he did. She had asked him a series of questions, and left to gather up her results. She came back later to explain to Sans that these were the common symptoms of monster anxiety. When a monster is having an anxiety or panic attack, their soul will appear out of their body. Because souls have a naturally soothing aura when in the presence of one, it helps to calm the monster down. The level of transparency of the soul determines how bad the attack is, and it usually stems from a traumatic experience. The more opaque a soul is, the worse the attack and the more calming light it gives off. The reasoning behind this is so that the soul only gives off the amount of calming energy it needs to without using up the extra.

It was actually quite fascinating and ingenious to Sans how monsters biologically had a counter against mental illnesses such as these. Taking another look at his own soul, the transparency level resembled a foggy glass window. The sight of the flipped heart helped to keep his mind off of what had just happened, and it put him at ease, as it should. How was he to know that you were going to react like that? He was only trying to talk! Besides, you had basically asked him the same question! What kind of person just brings up the topic of murder at a house warming party, anyway? Though, thinking about it a little more, how were you supposed to know that he had killed someone dear to him? It’s not like you were there to witness the previous timelines, and even if you were, you wouldn’t remember anything because of the resets. All you knew was that he killed someone. Plus, you did ask who he killed in the first place... So, no. You didn’t know that he killed Frisk and/or Chara. The sun was starting to bleed pink and orange light onto the hole-filled walls of the kindergarten, so Sans assumed that this place was in a much different time zone from the beach.

His breathing had gone back to a normal pace, and his soul began to pulse its light and become more and more clear until it eventually dimmed out and disappeared. It had done its job. Reevaluating his actions, he actually felt a little guilty now. You were only trying to do the same as him with you: you wanted to make sure that he can really be trusted. If he looked at it from your point of view, he was just the suspicious new neighbor who has confirmed that he’s a murderer. You had every right to interrogate him, and he went off on you. Though, he wasn’t feeling too bad. His backlash was also a test to determine how well you could hold your temper. Obviously, you failed. He would have to warn the others about that, so as not to have anyone he cared about getting hurt. Even if they don’t believe him, they’ll at least know him enough to trust his judgment, so they’ll be wary. He was lucky to have gotten out of there when he did, though. A second later, and he’d have lost his one remaining HP. Sans decided that it would be best not to egg you on like he had and at least try to apologize. After all, how was he supposed to get you to trust him enough so you would tell him all of the secret information about yourself that he needed? Most people would consider it using you, but until proven otherwise by any means possible, you were still a threat. While he was here, Sans made the decision to look around for a bit so you could cool off before he went back to the house, just in case you were currently on a raging rampage searching for him so you could pound him into bone meal. Of course, there wasn’t much to see in the Kindergarten. All he found after exploring for about an hour were machines run by magic that highly resembled viruses, an uncountable number of people-shaped holes in the rock walls, and some sort of secret communications broadcasting room underneath the ground.

After walking around for about half an hour, Sans found that the Kindergarten really wasn’t such an interesting place. Of course, he didn’t know the horrifying purpose behind the hollowed rock walls. He had to have walked at least a mile by now, and the image of the holes in the walls were completely memorized to him by now. Seriously, was there literally nothing else here. Just to amuse himself, Sans walked up to one of the crevices in the rock and fit himself in it. Being the short monster he was, it wasn’t exactly a perfect fit. He only reached up to the person-shaped dent’s waist. Occupying himself with this, he decided to go out and search for a hole that would fit his height and shape. He only found one, evidently not taking into consideration that mostly all of the gorges were cookie cutter copies. Slipping into the single outcast hole, his bones almost fit like glove. He was a little wider than the frame of the missing rock piece and his head was slightly bigger than the intended size, but other than that he fit pretty well. His pointless quest over, he got out of the hole. His phone buzzed in the pocket of his jacket, reaching to grab it and peeking at the notification on the lock screen. It was a text from his brother. ‘Brother! You are missing the party! Where on Earth have you disappeared to this time?! Lady Asgore and Asgore are doing a fire dancing show!’ Sans raised a nonexistent eyebrow at that. He didn’t even know that Tori and Asgore could fire dance. Even so, he figured he had given you enough time to relax a bit from his earlier actions. Checking the time, he saw that he had already been here for an hour and a half. He’d have to ask Tori for a crap-ton of monster food if he wanted to get his magic energy up from teleporting so much.

Putting his phone back in his pocket, Sans closed his eye sockets and imagined where he wanted to go to. He focused on the exact spot of where his feet would be before snapping his fingers and letting his body float through the void like a piece of paper floating in the breeze. All around him was a distinct yet familiar blackness that he had gotten used to at this point after doing this so many times. Looking down at the nothingness, his pin pricks met with a being that he knew all to well. A creature that looked very similar to the skeletal species of monsters, but made out of a goopy, slime-like substance. It wore a black cloak that showed the same pudding consistency that covered all of its body save for its head ad hands, both disfigured by extended exposure to the existent emptiness of the void. One day, this being would cease to exist and become part of the nothing that filled this nonexistence. Usually, this creature would watch Sans as he flew through the void to his destination would an odd stare, but this time it was turned away and slouched over like a hunchback, as if it were observing and intently watching something.... but what? There was nothing here in the void to watch. So what was it doing? Sans heard a whirling sound, like the sound of the wind howling through a forest of trees, and he shook his head to dismiss his curious thoughts of the mysterious void-dwelling creature.

Flopping down onto his bed in his room at the beach house, his hand shot up to his head, Where the hell did this migraine come from?! He usually got headaches from teleporting like that, but never like this! He only got migraines like this when he woke up from a reset, but that couldn’t be the case, right? The kid couldn’t have reset while Sans was in the void, could they? Even if they could, why would they? Sans was still in the beach house, so at least that meant that they couldn’t have reset too long from the present. Rushing downstairs and moving the curtain to a window in the living room, he saw that everyone was still outside for the party. Taking his phone out and checking the time again, it had only been a minute since he left the Kindergarten. But if Frisk hadn’t reset, why was he having such a terrible headache? Then it came to him; He needed to replenish his magic. Luckily, Asgore not only made human food for the party guests, but he also cooked up some monster food for his family as well. Striding to where the extra burger patties were left for anyone who got hungry, Sans picked out one of the patties made of magic. Which was actually pretty easy since it was easy for monsters to identify magical objects being made of magic themselves.Taking a few bites and enjoying the evaporation of the food as it soaked into his bones, his migraine began to die down. Not completely, of course, but enough for him to say that it felt like the normal side effect of his magic usage.

Looking around the party, he saw that the King and Queen were still entertaining everyone with their flaming routine. Everyone was so captivated by the dance that they didn’t even notice Sans had come out of the house. All of the humans had left by now, probably to go to bed since it was now 11:20 on a Wednesday and people had work tomorrow. Sans knew that you would come out of your hiding place when the townsfolk had left, but you were no where in sight upon scanning the area. He even checked the small area on the side of the house where you were chilling before, but you weren’t there either. Sans did want to apologize to get you to trust him, but he also figured it would be best to give you some space for a bit. It was still a good idea to know your location, of course. Who knew what you could do when you were so infuriated like you were. Walking up to Amethyst, who was hyped up on watching the fire dance, he took another bite of the bare hamburger patty. “What’d I miss?” The purple gem spoke to Sans without tearing her eyes from the royal couple. “Dude! You almost missed this! I had no idea that you guys had magic powers! This is so cool!” Sans chuckled. “Yep. If you think this is cool, you should see what Papyrus can do. He can manipulate gravity a little bit.” Amethyst turned to Sans with wonder. “Seriously?! You monsters are amazing!” Sans raised an eyebrow at her. “Don’t you gems have powers, too? I thought I remember Pearl saying something about that.” Amethyst looked as though she had forgotten that detail. “Oh yeah. Actually, speaking of fire, Ruby has fire powers, too! Sapphire has ice powers, though. Which is cool since they balance each other out when they make Garnet!”

Sans just looked at her with confusion, chewing his food. Amethyst just laughed. “Did Pearl not tell you about fusion yet?” Sans shook his head, intrigued. “She probably mentioned it sometime when we were talking, but then again I had probably dozed off. I enjoy chatting with her and all, but damn is she talkative...” Amethyst rubbed her hands together suspiciously, like she were plotting something. “Wait right here!” And with that, the short violet gem ran off back to the temple.


	13. Chapter Eleven

202X, September fourth, Beach City, The Beach, 11:28 PM

After Sans had mysteriously disappeared in a cloud of dust and you took your anger out on the cliff, immediately followed by a rage release session of you aimlessly waving your katana around and stabbing it into the sand, you had decided to sneak back to the temple and warp yourself to a training arena in the clouds that Pearl had taken you to not too long ago to try to help you with the whole situation with your weapon, though you now you returned often just to get some peace and quiet without interruptions. The first time you were here, you got in a little practice with your katana, but only after you were actually able to summon it..... which took Pearl having to deflect a sword aimed at her gem from a holopearl bot to do. The two of you came to the conclusion that you were able to summon your weapon in times when you were protecting the ones you care deeply for, and to just think about that when you needed to summon your katana. Thinking on that now, that probably wasn’t the case. You weren’t protecting anyone when you attacked Sans. In fact, you weren’t really protecting anything. The only thing that probably triggered your actions was that you were simply infuriated by the way Sans was making you out to be the villain. He didn’t know the full story, and he had no excuse for saying what he said. Even so, you also had no reason to lunge at him like that. Just like the other times you had fought, you were so blinded by your emotions, and you weren’t even thinking about what you were doing. Your body just started moving on its own, and all of a sudden your katana was in your hand and you were ready for a battle. 

You’d have to apologize and make it up to him later. Maybe a small gift from the Funland arcade? After all, you most likely weren’t going to find a card that said “Sorry for attacking you and making things weird between us, but you also shouldn’t have said what you did without proper context.” Steven hung out with Sans a little bit more than you did, despite spending most of his time with Frisk, Chara, and Connie.... and occasionally Papyrus, though the younger skeleton was mostly with Undyne, Alphys, and Amethyst. Maybe your half human-half gem friend could help you find something that Sans might like? Food wouldn’t work since you didn’t know how to make monster food and he couldn’t eat anything else due to him being a skeleton. Maybe you could ask Toriel or Asgore to explain it to you when they weren’t chatting with Pearl and Garnet. In any case, for the rest of the time that you weren’t thinking of ways to make things cool again with you and Sans, you spent daydreaming again. This time, your fantasy world didn’t exclude your new(ish) monster neighbors.

Well, at least one of them.... and the one that you would rather not have lingering in your thoughts if you could help it. But of course, your mind ran wild and free when it started to create one of your fantasy worlds. It was as if time had rewound itself to only a few minutes ago, blade raised above your head and ready to strike down a smart-ass instigator skeleton in a blue hoodie. Instead of him turning around to walk away, he stood tall (or as tall as his short legs could get) and stared you straight in the eye as if challenging you with that idiotic smile. You swung your weapon down to crack his skull open..... but you missed. you only blinked once, and suddenly he was behind you. Flicking your pupils to your backside, you caught a glimpse of a royal blue sneaker just before the rubber sole of the footwear crashed into your spine and shot rippling pains through every nerve in your body, causing you to collapse to your knees with a painful grunt. The only thing preventing you from getting a face full of sand and falling completely to the shore being the katana you had stuck as far as you could into the loose beachy sediment to get enough friction to stop your descent. Wasting no time, you got back up and took another swing with your sword at the annoying skeleton. He dodged again, this time being a visible avoidance of your weapon when he quickly stepped off to the side and grabbed your left arm. Snapping the elbow joint the complete opposite way it was intended to bend, you bit your bottom until it bled to muffle the sound of your screams and nullify the pain. Tears formed in the corners of your (eye color) eyes as Sans ripped your own weapon out of your hands. Using the same maneuver from when he blindsided you, he twisted your already disfigured arm behind you back and dislocating your left shoulder, kicking your disabled body to the floor with an opposing moan of genuine pain. Trying to push yourself up with your only remaining good arm, you looked back up at Sans with a determination that silently told him that you weren’t giving up yet. “Heh. You remind me of someone I once killed. Guess I should stop hanging around these types of people.” And with that, he stabbed the sharp cutting edge of your katana into the back of your forehead and through to the front of your face, blood trickling out of your wound as your body burst into an explosion of light as it always did when you got poofed back into your gem.

You emerged from your daydream with a startled shake, the kind you get when your body feels like its falling to your death right when you’re about to go to sleep at night. You sat up from where you had wandered from the center of the training grounds to the bleachers, lying in between the elevated seats of the Colosseum style viewing area. You ran your fingers through your hair starting from the parting in your hair at your scalp with a sigh. Just when you wanted to escape Sans and all thoughts of him, a daydream like that comes up and attacks you. Quite literally attacking you. You shook your head, dismissing all trace of the cocky skeleton from your mind before standing to your feet and walking back to the warp pad. Warping back to the temple house, You were greeted by a very excited Amethyst running around the house and flipping over furniture like she were very thoroughly searching for a lost earring or something. Hearing the warp pad, her gaze shot over to you like a rabid animal or a five year old hyped up on fundip and pixiesticks. Last time you saw her like this, Garnet let her destroy a bunch of old furniture that Mayor Dewey needed to get rid of to clear some of the stuff in the Beach City Dump. Needless to say, you took a cautionary step back. “There you are, Missy! Come on, come on, come on! You gotta be here for this!”

Amethyst ran up to you and yanked you by your wrist out of the house. You had no idea how long you had been at the training grounds,all of the humans had already left the party and everyone was gathered in a wide circle to watch some sort of performance. As you got closer to the tiny crowd of gems and monsters, you saw above a few heads that fire was being flung around by the people in the middle of the circle. “Amethyst what the hell is going on?” The short lavender extraterrestrial let go of your arm and pushed herself through all of the people to get to whoever was performing. You kind of wanted to see who was in there and what they were doing that involved fire, but Amethyst’s odd behavior held more of your curiosity. You couldn’t hear exactly what she was saying, but you could hear her voice. Suddenly, everyone turned to look at you. “I don’t know what you just heard about me, but I plead the fifth.” Amethyst came back in front of you and looked down at her quizzically. “Hey, Missy! Do you wanna fuse with me?” You were caught off guard by this. Truth be told, you still hadn’t fused with any of the gems during your time with them. When a fusion was needed to fight off an enemy, you mostly just watched as everyone else did their thing. Despite this, Steven and Amethyst were both very persistent and have been trying to get you to fuse with one of them for quite a while now. “Amethyst, you know by now that I don’t fuse.” All of the monsters just looked on, baffled. “Aw come on, Missy! I’ve fused with everyone else in the Crystal Gems! You’re the only one I’m missing!” You shook your head, crossing your arms to make a point. Steven bolted to you from his place in the audience and grabbed your hand, brown puppy dog eyes staring up at you. “Why don’t you ever fuse with me, Missy? Aren’t I your favorite? I’m the one that brought you to the Crystal Gems!” You averted your eyes, not wanting to give in to his mind tricks. He let go of your hand, trudging his feet in the sand before sprinting back to you and jumping onto your back piggyback style. You stumbled forward a bit from the surprise impact, but you managed to regain your balance and grab hold of his feet. “Please, Missy? With cookie cats and freshly made donuts?” You let him fall onto the sand as you let go of his legs and jumped up and down to shake him off. “Alright, fine. I’ll fuse. But only this once, okay? I probably don’t even know how to fuse, and from what I know I’ve only fused with......”

You let your sentence trail off, gripping your upper arm and shaking your head free of those memories. All of the gems looked at you in realization, and you could already tell that Pearl would want to talk to you later about this. “Anyway, let’s just do this.” Pearl stopped you before you could move, taking Amethyst by the wrist and putting a hand on your shoulder. “Missy is right, though. She hasn’t fused a single time since she was reformed and brought here. Gems naturally know how to fuse when they are first created, but Missy is... um.... Missy’s n individual case. There’s a slim chance that she might not know how to fuse! Because of this, Amethyst and I will demonstrate!” Amethyst took her hand back and smirked. Steven grabbed your hand in his and lead you to the circle to watch as Pearl and Amethyst took a couple steps away from each other to start the fusion dance. Because their dancing styles are directly linked to their personalities, their fusion dance was a mix of ballet and club hip hop. Their bodies lost color and shape as they morphed into one another, the blob of light twisting and turning until it held the body shape of a giant woman. You stood in front of the circle with a smile, introducing the fusion to the monsters. “Everyone, we’d like you to meet Opal!” said fusion completed the fusing process and formed with her bottom hands on her hips and her upper arms splayed out elegantly by her sides. Her two gems shone brightly in the moonlight, One on her forehead and the other just above her breasts on her cleavage.

All of the monsters looked like they had just found out the meaning of life itself. Their faces were filled with wide eyes and dropped jaws, and you snickered at their expressions. All of a sudden, Garnet hoisted up Sans like a sack of flour with a blank expression. “You need to go get a drink.” He looked just as confused as you did. “Huh?” The tallest out of all of you gems put the perplexed skeleton back down and turned him around to face the monster’s house. “Don’t ask questions. It’ll make sense later.” Sans started to confusedly walk towards the house, glancing back at Toriel for help. The queen just shrugged as her husband stepped in to assist, “There’s a pitcher of golden flower tea that I made earlier in the fridge. It should have enough magic consistency to be consumable for you. Would anyone else like any tea?” He looked around, gesturing to everyone as they all nodded and replied, you included. Opal looked like she was debating whether or not to accept his offer, the two inner gems keeping her together obviously coming to a disagreement as they argued out loud before eventually splitting back into two individual gems. Sans turned around and continued to make his way to the building that had been custom built for him and his family to live in. “Alright. I’ll go get everyone some tea. Be right back, I guess.”

You shot Garnet a curious glance, looking up at her as she was standing right next to you. “What are you up to?” She smirked devilishly with a sly glint on her sunglasses from the moonlight reflecting off of their shiny surface. You shrugged off the notion with a smile, figuring that you’ll see her plans unfold shortly. Pearl dusted the sand off of herself from where she had fallen when she and Amethyst had unfused. “Well, now that you’ve had a little visual instruction, I can try to take you step by step through the fusion process with Steven, Missy!” You nervously scratched the back of your neck, chuckling awkwardly as you peeked down at a very excited Steven. “So, um, what all happens after you fuse? The other person... They can’t, like, see into your mind or anything, right?” Pearl just snickered, as did Amethyst. “Well, duh! You can’t really fuse without trusting your partner with literally everything you are!” You chuckled awkwardly, taking a deep breathe and trying to suppress the feeling of dread that had suddenly formed out of the blue. You didn’t even know why you had begun to think about this, but your own brain had blindsided you by attacking with you with thoughts of the unanswered question from your memory of Onyx. What if your memories were hiding away, waiting to be restored? What if you had done something horrible... something unforgivable? And what if Steven saw it before you could. What if he started to look at you different? What if he told the gems, and they threw you out on your own? What if they shattered you? That thought, knowing it was possible.... You didn’t even want to admit it, but it really was. They had shattered other gems before when they saw that they had become dangerous to them, and why would you be any different?

While lost in your thoughts, you hadn’t realized how much you had spaced out. You clicked back into reality to Undyne snapping her blue scaled fingers in your face. “Hey, Punk! You doing alright? You don’t look so good.” You shook your head, breaking free of all of those terrifying thoughts. “Y-yeah. I’m fine. Let’s just... Let’s do this. I’m ready.” The gems wouldn’t do that to you. You’ve been with them for a full Earth year now. That may not be a lot of time for gems as practically immortal beings, but you had grown so close to them. You knew they cared about you, and you cared about them. Even if Steven did see something, he would understand that you don’t remember that. Garnet sauntered up to you and knelt to be at your level, taking off her glasses and looking in the eye with all three of hers. “Mystic Topaz, I know how frightening fusion can be. The first time I did it, I had no idea what was going on. It actually scared me a little. But I promise, nothing bad is going to happen to you.” She smirked and gave you a wink with her third eye for comfort. It made you feel a little better, and stood up straight again. You hadn’t even realized that you were hunched over like that. Pearl clapped her hands together with a wide grin, eager to be the teacher. “Alright! In that case, let’s get started!”

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes you forget things that are better off forgotten.  
> Sometimes you forget people that aren't worth remembering.  
> But you always remember the things that make you happy,  
> And sometimes you meet someone you'll never forget.


End file.
